'Who's in charge?' Concerns raised about leadership void in key agency
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is facing threats from respiratory viruses and foodborne illnesses, reportedly without a clear leader nearly six months into Donald Trump's second presidency.
Leadership questions have plagued the public health agency from the start of the second Trump administration, and Axios reported that "no single person" has been designated as CDC's point person, so many important decisions are flowing straight up to health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
"CDC employees also aren't sure who's in charge," Axios reported. "Most external communications updates have to be approved by the office of the HHS assistant secretary for public affairs, which reports directly to Kennedy, according to one agency employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of repercussions."
Lawmakers questioned Kennedy about CDC's direction during a recent Senate hearing, and he told Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) that Matthew Buzzelli, who's listed on the CDC website as chief of staff but has no public health experience, is the acting director.
"The CDC Chief of Staff has been carrying out some of the duties of the CDC Director as the Senior Official, as necessary, and is surrounded by highly qualified medical professionals and advisors to help fulfill these duties as appropriate," said HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon, but he didn't respond to questions about who's carrying out the rest of those responsibilities.
The assistant secretary role is also vacant, and some midlevel leaders, such as a career CDC physician Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos, who had led the COVID vaccine recommendation work group, have left the agency since Trump was inaugurated and Kennedy was put in charge of HHS.
"Losing that type of guidance is really hard and really demoralizing, because you know you're losing somebody that does care about the science," said one CDC employee. "The fear is the more people like that that leave, the more of a power vacuum that is, the more it leaves open for mis- and dis-information."