RFK Jr.: CDC failed during COVID-19 pandemic, so ‘bold, competent, creative, new leadership’ is needed

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., testifies in the Senate Finance Committee during a hearing on Sept. 4, 2025. This image was taken from the webcast of the hearing.

A leadership shakeup was needed at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because its top experts failed during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

On Sept. 4, Kennedy appeared before the Senate Finance Committee for the hearing, “The President’s 2026 Health Care Agenda.” In his opening statement, he summarized the accomplishments of the department during his tenure, which began earlier this year in the administration of President Donald J. Trump.

Kennedy also addressed the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez, PhD. That, followed by the resignations of four top aides, sent shock through the American health care system.

“These changes were absolutely necessary adjustments to restore the agency to its role as the world's gold standard public health agency with the central mission of protecting Americans from infectious disease,” Kennedy said. “CDC failed our responsibility miserably during COVID when its disastrous and nonsensical policies destroyed small businesses, violated civil liberties, closed our schools, caused generational damage in doing so, masked infants with no science, and heightened economic inequality. And yet all those impressive and unscientific interventions failed to do anything about the disease itself.

America is home to 4.2% of the world's population, but had nearly 20% of the COVID deaths,” Kennedy said.

“We literally did worse than any country in the world,” he said. “And the people at CDC who oversaw that process, who put masks on our children, who closed our schools, are the people who will be leaving. And that's why we need bold, competent, creative, new leadership at CDC, people able and willing to chart a new course.

“As my father once said, progress is a nice word,” Kennedy said. “A change is its motivator, and change has its enemies. That's why we need new blood at CDC. That's also why it's imperative that we remove officials with conflicts of interest and catastrophically bad judgment and political agendas. We need unbiased politics, free, transparent, evidence-based science in the public interest. Those are the guiding principles behind the changes at the CDC, and that is what you can expect all across our agency for the next three years.”

A recap on health care

Kennedy opened with a roundup of some of the major developments in health care during his tenure.

“Let me start with the big picture: Under President Trump's leadership, we at HHS are enacting a once-in-a-generation shift from a sick care system to a true health care system that tackles the root causes of chronic disease,” Kennedy said. Chronic disease has reached crisis proportions in the country. Finally, there is an administration that is taking action, he said.

In May, the White House and HHS published the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Report. Kennedy called it the first government analysis of the key drivers of childhood, chronic disease, ultraprocessed foods, chemical exposures, physical inactivity and over-medicalization. A MAHA action plan will follow this month, he said.

More than just reports

But HHS is not just writing reports, Kennedy said.

“We have been the busiest, most proactive administration in HHS history,” Kennedy said. “In just half a year, we've taken on food dyes, baby formula contamination, the GRAS loophole, fluoride in our drinking water, gas station heroin, electronic cigarettes, drug prices, prior authorization, information blocking,” Kennedy said. He referred to the generally recognized as safe food additives and the synthetic version of 7-OH, a substance found in kratom, which comes from an Asian tree.

“We're addressing cell phone use in schools, excessive screen time for use, the lack of nutrition education in our medical schools, sickle cell, anemia, hepatitis C, the East Palestine chemical spill and many, many others,” Kennedy said. The Food and Drug Administration also is on track to approve more drugs this year than at any time in history, he said.

Changes in public programs

“I'm also proud to say that HHS under President Trump is doing more with less,” Kennedy said.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services could save up to $14 billion a year by eliminating duplicate enrollments, while expanding access for those in need. The administration is focusing on low-income and vulnerable families, while eliminating “racist diversity, equity and inclusion practices,” he said. HHS will spend billions of dollars on Head Start, Kennedy added.

Not getting attention

Kennedy added he wanted to highlight some issues that have not gotten media attention.

The Trump administration is committed to stopping human trafficking, especially of children, Kennedy said. The administration inherited a terrible humanitarian crisis from the previous administration of President Joe Biden. Kennedy argued the prior administration’s open border policies allowed the appalling loss of 476,000 unaccompanied children.

“We've implemented policies now to ensure that that appalling tragedy can never happen again,” Kennedy said. “We have knocked on 82,000 doors and located 22,000 of those children. I promise you that we will do more in the next three years.”

On Native American reservations, tribal communities face disastrous health conditions, Kennedy said, and he has met face-to-face with tribal leaders in dozens of communities and tribes in Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico and elsewhere.

“And I look forward to making HHS resources more available to those communities,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Rural Health Transformation fund, part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act spending plan will provide the greatest investment of federal money into rural health care in history, Kennedy said.

Tribute to a guardian

In his statement, Kennedy offered a tribute to DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose, who was killed last month stopping a gunman firing at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta.

“Officer Rose was a veteran. He was a husband and the father of two children. Officers Rose's widow, whom I visited, is expecting their third child,” Kennedy said. “He remains in our prayers and that he will continue to be in our thoughts.”