2026-06-25T23:24:26-0400 / https://www.cbsnews.com/news/internal-emails-rfk-jr-cdc-bernie-sanders
一批最新披露的内部邮件让外界得以进一步了解美国疾病控制与预防中心如何应对特朗普第二届总统任期内一些最具争议的公共卫生决策，以及该机构有时如何对卫生与公众服务部部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪及其团队施加的压力感到恼火。
这些邮件的时间跨度从本届政府初期——当时卫生与公众服务部试图叫停一场流感疫苗广告宣传活动——到去年8月美国疾控中心主任苏珊·莫纳雷斯被戏剧性解雇一事。美国参议院卫生、教育、劳工与养老金委员会的民主党议员于周四正式公布了这些邮件，他们表示邮件是从疾控中心前首席医疗官黛布拉·乌里博士处获取的，乌里在莫纳雷斯被解职后辞职。
该委员会资深成员、佛蒙特州无党派参议员伯尼·桑德斯认为，这些邮件表明长期以来质疑疫苗的肯尼迪“将政治置于公共卫生之上，无视专家指导，危及民众尤其是儿童的安全”。
哥伦比亚广播公司新闻已就此事联系卫生与公众服务部征求置评。
撤回流感疫苗广告的要求“直接来自小罗伯特·肯尼迪”
2025年2月中旬流感季期间，时任疾控中心通讯主管妮可·科芬在一封邮件中告知同事，卫生与公众服务部通讯主管安德鲁·尼克松“要求我们撤回所有与流感相关或任何鼓励接种疫苗的宣传广告采购”。
科芬表示，她被告知该要求“直接来自部长”，并补充称相关计划将聚焦于“知情同意”，也就是向患者告知疫苗风险与收益的宣传信息。
另一名疾控中心官员随后将莫纳雷斯和乌里纳入邮件抄送范围，并警告了可能产生的后果。
“鉴于这是多年来最严重的流感季，暂停正在投放的宣传活动会给疾控中心带来重大声誉风险，”该官员在邮件中写道，“同时合同和拨款资金方面也可能存在法律问题。”
在另一个邮件线程中，科芬询问尼克松是否可以向其分享疾控中心与流感疫苗相关的广告宣传活动，以便该部门了解需要做出哪些调整。尼克松回应称，他很乐意查看，但“这是肯尼迪部长的直接要求”。
几天后，科芬表示卫生与公众服务部已“指示我们立即暂停”名为“从狂热到温和”的支持疫苗接种广告活动。另一项名为“接种我的流感疫苗”的宣传活动将继续保留。
肯尼迪更换疫苗咨询委员会成员：“他不在乎换掉哪些人”
上任几个月后，肯尼迪解除了国家免疫咨询委员会的全部17名成员，该委员会负责为美国制定疫苗接种建议。在该决定公开前，肯尼迪的一名助手在一份备忘录中指出，这个被称为ACIP的委员会在2024年后仅存在一个空缺职位，新的空缺要到2027年才会出现。
“这将让拜登任命的官员在2028年前对ACIP及其疫苗建议拥有重大影响力，”这份概述了肯尼迪更换ACIP部分或全部现有成员方案的备忘录草案写道。
另外，在一次针对此次计划调整的内部会议记录中，一名疾控中心官员似乎暗示肯尼迪团队对拜登政府在乔·拜登卸任前填补委员会空缺的做法感到不满。
“他们认为最后一刻的任命是为了阻碍（我们的计划）。没有向我们寻求帮助，”该官员在总结肯尼迪的观点时写道。
会议记录还提到：“部长希望更换ACIP委员会的10名成员。他已经准备好10名替补人选。”“他不在乎换掉哪些人。”
肯尼迪在疾控中心的顾问斯图尔特·伯恩斯被 tasked 撰写一份关于该计划的新备忘录。会议记录显示，该计划的既定目标是“通过任命更符合部长议程的人员，‘去政治化’该委员会”。
ACIP具有影响力的建议备受关注，因为它们直接关系到联邦政策——包括保险公司必须覆盖哪些疫苗。
最终，肯尼迪解除了所有成员的职务，并在《华尔街日报》的一篇专栏文章中写道：“需要彻底整顿，以重新建立公众对疫苗科学的信心。”
他提名的人选包括亲密盟友和核心圈子成员。其中一些人曾有过批评疫苗建议或质疑疫苗安全性的历史。部分人与针对疫苗制造商的诉讼存在关联。其中一人表示自己曾投资过疫苗。
今年3月，一名联邦法官裁定该咨询委员会的此次变更非法，认定特朗普政府“无视”了法定程序。卫生与公众服务部已提起上诉。
疾控中心的重大决策需“政治审查”
去年8月中旬，一名卫生与公众服务部高级助理向莫纳雷斯发送邮件，强调“绝对需要对疾控中心的重大政策决策进行政治审查”。
该助理指出，莫纳雷斯的团队正在推进“白宫和部长的一些关键优先事项”，并表示肯尼迪的一名顾问和莫纳雷斯的幕僚长“都需要审查疾控中心出台的任何重大政策决策，再进行变更”。
莫纳雷斯被告知，在界定何为“重大”决策时，“宁可谨慎行事”。
八天后，莫纳雷斯被解职。她在不到一个月前刚获得参议院确认，但在此之前她已代理疾控中心主任一职。
莫纳雷斯被解职恰逢其他几名疾控中心高级官员辞职，包括该机构首席医疗官乌里以及国家免疫与呼吸系统疾病中心主任德米特雷·达斯卡拉斯博士。
莫纳雷斯后来在《华尔街日报》的一篇专栏文章中写道，肯尼迪在8月底的一次会议上“施压我辞职，否则就将我解雇”，并要求她“预先批准”新疫苗咨询委员会的任何建议。
她还向参议院作证称，在被解雇前，肯尼迪施压她同意即将对儿童疫苗接种计划做出的调整，并承诺解雇疾控中心的科学家。当她拒绝这些条件时，肯尼迪告诉她，他已经就将她解职一事与白宫沟通过。
几个月后，疾控中心将推荐的儿童免疫接种次数从17剂减少到11剂，将包括甲型肝炎和乙型肝炎在内的其他几种疫苗主要推荐给高风险儿童群体。这一新指南遭到了卫生组织的强烈批评，它们认为该决定可能造成混乱，使儿童容易罹患严重疾病。特朗普政府辩称，该指南与其他西方国家的疫苗接种计划一致。
卫生与公众服务部强烈否认莫纳雷斯的指控，并指责她在职期间不服从命令，包括拒绝执行特朗普先生的行政命令。
肯尼迪指责莫纳雷斯撒谎，并在9月初的一场听证会上对参议员表示：“我从未与她进行过私人会面。我们所有会面都有其他目击者，他们都会说‘我从未说过那些话’。”
肯尼迪声称，他要求莫纳雷斯辞职“是因为我问她‘你是一个值得信赖的人吗？’，她回答说不是。”她对他对此次谈话的描述提出了异议。
塞琳·贡德里博士和丹尼尔·吉尔伯特为本报道做出了贡献。
Internal emails show how RFK Jr.’s team sought to sway the CDC
2026-06-25T23:24:26-0400 / https://www.cbsnews.com/news/internal-emails-rfk-jr-cdc-bernie-sanders
A trove of newly released internal emails offers a new look at how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention navigated some of the most controversial public health decisions of President Trump’s second term — and, at times, chafed at pressure from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his team.
The emails span from the administration’s early days — when HHS sought to shut down a flu vaccine advertising campaign — to the dramatic firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez last August. They were formally released Thursday by Democrats on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which said it obtained them from Dr. Debra Houry, the CDC’s former chief medical officer who resigned after Monarez was ousted.
The committee’s ranking member, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, argued the emails show Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, “prioritized politics over public health, ignored expert guidance, and endangered people, particularly children.”
CBS News has reached out to HHS for comment.
Request to pull flu vaccine ads “came directly from” RFK Jr.
In mid-February 2025, during flu season, then-CDC communications official Nicole Coffin told colleagues in an email that HHS communications chief Andrew Nixon “asked that we pull out of circulation all campaign ad buys related to flu or anything encouraging shots or vaccinations.”
The request “came directly from the Secretary,” Coffin said she was told, adding that the plan was to focus on “informed consent,” or messaging that informs patients of risks and benefits.
Another CDC official then looped in Monarez and Houry and warned of possible consequences.
“Given that this is the worst flu season in years, halting a campaign currently in the field presents significant reputational risk to the agency,” he wrote in an email. “There are also likely legal issues with contracts/appropriated funding.”
On a separate email chain, Coffin asked Nixon if she could share the CDC’s flu shot-related ad campaigns with him so the agency could understand what needed to change. Nixon responded that he was happy to take a look, but “this was a direct ask from Secretary Kennedy.”
Several days later, Coffin said HHS had “instructed we immediately pause” a pro-vaccination ad campaign called “Wild to Mild.” Another campaign known as “Get My Flu Shot” would remain.
RFK’s move to replace members of vaccine panel: “He doesn’t care which members”
A few months into his tenure, Kennedy removed all 17 members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, which makes vaccine recommendations for the nation. Before making the decision public, a Kennedy aide noted in a memo that the panel, known as ACIP, had only one vacancy after 2024 and new openings would not come up until 2027.
“This gives Biden appointees significant sway over ACIP and its recommendations until 2028,” according to a draft memo, which outlined Kennedy’s options for replacing either some or all of the existing ACIP members.
Separately, in a set of notes from an internal meeting on the planned changes, a CDC official appeared to suggest Kennedy’s team was frustrated that the Biden administration had filled vacancies just before Joe Biden left office.
“They think last minute appointments were a way to block. Didn’t ask us for help,” the official wrote, summarizing Kennedy’s views.
“Secretary wants to replace 10 members on the ACIP committee. He has a bench of 10 ready to replace,” the notes also read. “He doesn’t care which members.”
Stuart Burns, a Kennedy adviser at the CDC, was tasked with writing a new memo about the plan. The stated objective would be “to ‘depoliticize’ the committee by installing people more aligned to the Secretary’s agenda,” the meeting notes said.
ACIP’s influential recommendations are closely watched because they’re directly tied to federal policies — including which vaccines insurers are required to cover.
Ultimately, Kennedy removed all the members, writing in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, “A clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science.”
His picks included close allies and members of his inner circle. Several had a history of criticizing vaccine recommendations or questioning their safety. Some had ties to lawsuits against vaccine makers. One said he had previously invested in a vaccine.
A federal judge ruled in March the changes at the advisory committee were unlawful, finding the Trump administration had “disregarded” required processes. HHS appealed.
Major CDC decisions needed “political review”
In mid-August of last year, a senior HHS aide sent Monarez an email emphasizing the “absolute need for political review of major policy decisions at CDC.”
Noting that Monarez’s team was working on some “key priorities of the White House and the Secretary,” the aide said a Kennedy adviser and Monarez’s chief of staff “both need to review any major policy decision coming out of CDC before changes occur.”
Monarez was told to “err on the side of caution” when deciding what qualifies as “major.”
Eight days later, Monarez was ousted. She had been confirmed by the Senate less than a month earlier, though she led the CDC in an acting capacity before then.
Monarez’s ouster coincided with the resignations of several other top CDC officials, including Houry — the agency’s chief medical officer — and Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who led the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
Monarez later wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece that Kennedy had “pressured me to resign or face termination” in a late August meeting, and asked her to “preapprove” any recommendations by the new vaccine advisory committee.
She also testified to the Senate that in the leadup to her firing, Kennedy pressured her to agree to upcoming changes to the childhood vaccination schedule and to commit to firing CDC scientists. When she refused those conditions, she said, Kennedy told her that he had already spoken to the White House about having her removed.
Several months later, the CDC reduced the number of recommended childhood immunizations from 17 to 11, with several other vaccines — including for hepatitis A and hepatitis B — recommended primarily for children in high-risk categories. The new guidance was heavily criticized by health groups, which argued the decision could sow confusion and leave children vulnerable to serious disease. The Trump administration argued the guidance was aligned with vaccination schedules in other Western countries.
HHS strongly denied Monarez’s allegations and accused her of insubordination while on the job, including by refusing to implement Mr. Trump’s executive orders.
Kennedy accused Monarez of lying, telling senators in an early September hearing: “I never had a private meeting with her. Other witnesses to every meeting that we have, and all those witnesses will say, ‘I never said that.’”
Kennedy claimed he asked Monarez to resign “because I asked her, ‘Are you a trustworthy person?’ and she said no.” She disputed his account of the conversation.
Dr. Céline Gounder and Daniel Gilbert contributed to this report.