WASHINGTON — Nine former leaders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have spoken out against Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, publishing an open letter that criticises his policies — including restricting vaccines, pulling funding for research, and firing thousands of healthcare workers.

They also wrote in an open letter that last week's removal of Dr Susan Monarez as CDC director — which was followed by a string of resignations in protest — added fuel to a "raging fire".

Kennedy, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that the CDC had strayed from its "core mission".

He added that public trust in the organization had been hurt by "bureaucratic inertia, politicized science and mission creep".

In their open letter in the New York Times, the former health leaders said the seven months under RFK Jr's tenure as Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary were "unlike anything our country had ever experienced".

The letter is titled: "We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American's Health"

Since taking office, Kennedy has slashed and restricted access to a number of immunisation efforts, including ending US support for the global vaccine programme.

He is a vaccine sceptic, having frequently made statements undermining their effectiveness in favour of alternative, unproven treatments, which has angered health officials.

The letter's authors said his policies could put children at risk of serious disease and could ultimately lead to another pandemic if left unchallenged.

"This is unacceptable, and it should alarm every American, regardless of political leanings", they wrote.

The health secretary was also accused of supporting legislation that could lead to Americans losing their health insurance under Medicare.

In his opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, Kennedy said that public trust in the CDC has collapsed.

He argued that the organization's "dysfunction" was responsible for "irrational policy" during the Covid pandemic, leading to a disproportionately large number of deaths recorded in the US compared with the global average.

"This failure was no anomaly," he added, accusing the CDC of having "presided over rising chronic disease" — which he called "a true modern pandemic" — and declining life expectancy.

While some health officials questioned Kennedy's handling of a measles outbreak in Texas this year, which was the deadliest in more than a decade, and noted he sought to minimise the situation, Kennedy pointed to the CDC's response as an example of improved performance under his leadership.

In his opinion piece, he wrote that the outbreak was ended quickly, through bringing vaccines and other resources to the epicentre in a way that was neither pro or anti-vaccines.

The letter from the former CDC bosses is the latest rebuke of RFK's leadership as health secretary, as HHS cut hundreds of staff across its programmes, including research into infectious diseases and environmental health. In August, a gunman opened fire at CDC's headquarters in Atlanta, prompting more than 700 current and former HHS employees to publish their own letter accusing Kennedy of putting Americans' health in danger.

The former CDC directors said in their letter that the recent removal of Monarez was especially damaging, as she had just been been nominated under Trump to take the helm at the CDC in July.

The White House has said that she was "not aligned" with the president's agenda. But in their letter the former CDC bosses said Monarez was let go because she "refused to rubberstamp" vaccine policies or follow HHS orders to fire senior staff.

In August, Kennedy stripped $500 million in grants and contracts on work on mRNA vaccines.

He previously helped run an anti-vaccine group, and has repeatedly stated widely debunked claims about vaccine harm. — BBC