Former top CDC officials warn of public health threat as Trump administration moves to upend vaccine policies

Dr. Deb Houry, the former chief medical officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks at the Georgia State Capitol on Sept. 2, 2025. (Sam Gringlas/WABE)

Two top officials who resigned last week from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are warning of grave threats to public health under the Trump administration.

The officials resigned in protest of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s management of the Atlanta-based agency.

The two officials spoke alongside Democratic lawmakers at the Georgia State Capitol on Tuesday, as some of their former colleagues held up hand-made signs touting the success of vaccines against deadly diseases like influenza, whooping cough and meningitis.