Leading physician organizations say turmoil at the CDC puts lives at risk

The statement below is issued by the American Osteopathic Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Physicians, the American Psychiatric Association and the Society of General Internal Medicine:

Our organizations believe that the turmoil that occurred at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week will have harmful consequences for the health of the American public. The firing of Director Monarez and the resignation of multiple senior officials are alarming, threatening our nation’s public health infrastructure. Leadership and oversight from Congress are needed now to ensure that our nation’s public health is protected.

As physicians, we are extremely worried that this latest action takes place at the critical start of the flu and respiratory illness season, at a time when we should be increasing access to vaccines and encouraging their use. Instead, we receive confusing, often contradictory recommendations that are counter to the best-available evidence regarding vaccine use and infection mitigation that are already leading to additional restrictions on access. The consequences of this confusion will be harmful to the well-being of our patients. We are deeply concerned that this portends future attempts to impose restrictions on vaccines and other public health measures supported by sound scientific evidence. 

Adding preventable stress to our already overburdened healthcare system, which has little to no capacity to absorb additional emergency department, outpatient, inpatient and intensive care unit capacity is unacceptable. We need the CDC and other federal public health agencies to make decisions based on the best-available scientific evidence, guided by qualified experts in these fields and supported by the resources they need. We need strong congressional oversight to enable these agencies to correct course and ensure they can protect the health of Americans.