By I. Edwards HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
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WEDNESDAY, June 18, 2025 (HealthDay News) \u2014 A senior scientist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has resigned, warning that changes in leadership may weaken the country\u2019s vaccine program.<\/p>\n
Dr. Fiona Havers<\/a>, who led the CDC\u2019s tracking of hospitalizations from COVID-19 and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), stepped down this week.<\/p>\n “Unfortunately,” she said in an email to colleagues, “I no longer have confidence that these data will be used objectively or evaluated with appropriate scientific rigor to make evidence-based vaccine policy decisions.” The memo was obtained by The Washington Post.<\/em><\/p>\n Havers\u2019 departure comes just days after U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr<\/a>. removed all members of the CDC\u2019s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices<\/a> (ACIP) and replaced them with new appointees. It makes recommendations on use of vaccines in the U.S.<\/p>\n At least three of the new members have spoken out against mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Two have served as witnesses in lawsuits against vaccine makers, and one served on the board of the nation\u2019s oldest anti-vaccine group, The Post <\/em>reported.<\/p>\n Havers worked at the CDC for 13 years. She presented hospitalization data at ACIP meetings.<\/p>\n Her resignation is the latest in a string of exits from the agency.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Dr. Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos<\/a>, a CDC vaccine adviser, also resigned. And before that, five senior leaders stepped down<\/a> from their CDC roles, The Post <\/em>reported.<\/p>\n In addition, Melinda Wharton<\/a>, a top CDC official who managed ACIP operations, was removed from her role last week.<\/p>\n In a commentary<\/a> published June 16 in JAMA<\/em>, the 17 former ACIP members said the recent cuts have \u201ccritically weakened\u201d the U.S. vaccine program.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are deeply concerned that these destabilizing decisions, made without clear rationale, may roll back the achievements of U.S. immunization policy, impact people\u2019s access to lifesaving vaccines, and ultimately put U.S. families at risk of dangerous and preventable illnesses,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon<\/a> said HHS is “committed to following the gold standard of scientific integrity” under Kennedy\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n \u201cVaccine policy decisions will be based on objective data, transparent analysis, and evidence \u2014 not conflicts of interest or industry influence,” Nixon said in a statement.<\/p>\n In her email to colleagues, Havers expressed pride in the work she and her team had done.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m grateful to have been part of such important and effective work that has provided decision-makers with real-time, high-quality, rigorous scientific evidence that have been used to track disease severity over time, tailor vaccine messaging to groups at highest risk for severe disease and provide critical inputs for vaccine cost-effectiveness analyses,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n Just this April, Havers presented data<\/a> showing that infants under 6 months old had the highest rates of COVID-related hospitalizations, The Post <\/em>reported.<\/p>\n Her report also found that most hospitalized children under 2 years old had no underlying health conditions.<\/p>\n More information<\/strong><\/p>\n Learn more about the role of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>.<\/p>\n