{"id":869307,"date":"2025-08-31T01:12:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T06:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/31\/cdc-staffers-stage-walkout-in-protest-against-trump-administration-rfk-jr\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T01:12:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T06:12:10","slug":"cdc-staffers-stage-walkout-in-protest-against-trump-administration-rfk-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/31\/cdc-staffers-stage-walkout-in-protest-against-trump-administration-rfk-jr\/","title":{"rendered":"CDC Staffers Stage Walkout In Protest Against Trump Administration, RFK Jr."},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
\n

CDC Staffers Walk Out: Ex-Agency Leader Says \u2018Let\u2019s Get The Politics Out Of Public Heath\u2019<\/h2>\n
\n

Peque\u00f1o is a breaking news reporter who covers tech and more.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Aug 28, 2025, 04:43pm EDT<\/span>Aug 28, 2025, 04:43pm EDT<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

Topline<\/h2>\n

Staffers and ex-leadership at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention walked out of the health agency\u2019s Atlanta headquarters Thursday, protesting against Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s public health policies and the contested firing<\/a> of CDC Director Susan Monarez.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Dr. Daniel Jernigan, leader of the agency’s work on emerging infectious diseases; left, Dr. Debra Houry, the agency’s deputy director and Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, a top vaccine official, gather at the walkout. (AP Photo\/Ben Gray)<\/span><\/p>\n

Associated Press<\/small><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Key Facts<\/h2>\n
\n

Hundreds of staffers and protesters demonstrated outside the CDC\u2019s headquarters Thursday afternoon for at least an hour.<\/p>\n

Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, is one of multiple CDC leaders who resigned from the agency this week, saying<\/a> in Thursday\u2019s walkout to \u201cget the politics out of public health\u201d and, \u201cLet the science lead us, because that\u2019s how we get to the best decisions for public health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jernigan resigned from the CDC this week alongside the agency\u2019s chief medical officer, Debra Houry, and Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.<\/p>\n

Houry said her and CDC leadership \u201creached a tipping point,\u201d calling out Kennedy\u2019s promotion of \u201cvitamins over vaccines\u201d and saying \u201cwe knew it was a powerful statement for the three of us to do this together.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Houry speaks with reporters and supporters at the walkout. <\/span><\/p>\n

AP Photo\/Ben Gray<\/small><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\n
\n

Workers and supporters salute to departing scientific leaders at CDC headquarters. <\/span><\/p>\n

AP Photo\/Ben Gray<\/small><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

LOADING VIDEO PLAYER…<\/span><\/p>\n

FORBES\u2019 FEATURED Video<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/main> Antonio Peque\u00f1o IV
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CDC Staffers Walk Out: Ex-Agency Leader Says \u2018Let\u2019s Get The Politics Out Of Public Heath\u2019 Peque\u00f1o is a breaking news reporter who covers tech and more. Aug 28, 2025, 04:43pm EDT Aug 28, 2025, 04:43pm EDT Topline Staffers and ex-leadership at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention walked out of the health agency\u2019s Atlanta<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":869308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3427,4089],"tags":[7755,15768],"class_list":{"0":"post-869307","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staffers","8":"category-stage","9":"tag-staffers","10":"tag-stage"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}