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The agency’s Covid failures stem from politicized science, bureaucratic inertia and mission creep
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was once the world’s most trusted guardian of public health. Its mission—protecting Americans from infectious disease—was clear and noble. But over the decades, bureaucratic inertia, politicized science and mission creep have corroded that purpose and squandered public trust.
That dysfunction produced irrational policy during Covid: cloth masks on toddlers, arbitrary 6-foot distancing, boosters for healthy children, prolonged school closings, economy-crushing lockdowns, and the suppression of low-cost therapeutics in favor of experimental and ineffective drugs. The toll was devastating. America is home to 4.2% of the world’s population but suffered 19% of Covid deaths.
This failure was no anomaly. For years the CDC has presided over rising chronic disease—a true modern pandemic—and, since 2014, declining life expectancy. Trust has collapsed: Only one-third of health care workers participated in the 2023-24 fall Covid booster program, and fewer than 10% of children under 12 received boosters in 2024-25. The American people no longer believe the CDC has their best interests at heart.
President Trump has asked me to restore that trust and return the CDC to its core mission.
The CDC began in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center, tasked with eradicating malaria. Within a year it expanded to all communicable diseases and provided hands-on support to state health departments. In 1951 it founded the Epidemic Intelligence Service—the “disease detectives” who became America’s first line of defense against outbreaks.
In 1992 the agency adopted its current name. Unlike agencies created by statute, however, the CDC has grown piecemeal, its mission shaped by appropriations, administrative priorities and special interests. Over the years it mutated from a readiness-and-response force into a sprawling bureaucracy dabbling in nearly every health issue, often duplicating work already done by other agencies of the Health and Human Services Department.
Today, only half of the CDC’s budget supports its infectious-disease mission. Fewer than 1 in 10 employees are epidemiologists. That drift explains much of the agency’s disastrous pandemic response. The Biden administration’s restructuring failed to solve the problem. It made a priority of health equity while ignoring the central issue: The CDC has strayed from its core mission.
We have shown what a focused CDC can achieve. When measles flared this year in Texas, we brought vaccines, therapeutics and resources to the epicenter. The outbreak ended quickly, proving the CDC can act swiftly with precision when guided by science and freed from ideology. That response was neither “pro-vax” nor “antivax.” It wasn’t distracted by “equity outcomes” or politically correct language like “pregnant people.” It was effective. And effectiveness—not politics—will be the watchword of our leadership.
The CDC also now operates in 63 countries, monitoring biothreats before they reach our shores. Its Biothreat Radar Detection System—an advanced early-detection tool—can spot pathogens like H5N1 or MERS early enough to prevent catastrophe.
We know chronic disease made Covid especially lethal in America. Infectious and chronic illness are linked. Tools meant to fight disease—vaccines, antibiotics, therapeutics—can save lives but also trigger adverse events in some patients. That truth must no longer be ignored. While most chronic-disease programs will migrate to the new Administration for a Healthy America, the CDC will bring transparency and research to this critical connection.
The path forward is clear: Restore the CDC’s focus on infectious disease, invest in innovation, and rebuild trust through integrity and transparency. To achieve this, the CDC will focus on six priorities:
- Protect from threats. Detect and defeat infectious diseases through enhanced respiratory-disease surveillance and a Biothreat Radar powered by cutting-edge molecular tools.
- Build infrastructure. Strengthen global and domestic systems to predict, track and respond to dangerous exposures and outbreaks.
- Modernize systems. Upgrade data, laboratories and epidemiology to meet 21st-century threats.
- Invest in workforce. Rebuild the proud tradition of disease detectives, training epidemiologists at home and abroad.
- Enhance scientific rigor. Apply gold-standard science to every recommendation, ensuring America leads the world in safe, effective vaccines and trusted guidance.
- Empower states and communities. Return to the original mission of supporting state and local health departments on the front lines of outbreaks.
We have already taken steps to eliminate conflicts of interest and bureaucratic complacency. We have shaken up the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. We have replaced leaders who resisted reform. The American people elected President Trump—not entrenched bureaucrats—to set health policy. That is the MAHA commitment—make America healthy again—in action. Most CDC rank-and-file staff are honest public servants. Under this renewed mission, they can do their jobs as scientists without bowing to politics. The agency will again become the world authority on infectious-disease policy.
First, the CDC must restore public trust—and that restoration has begun. It won’t stop until America’s public-health institutions again serve the people with transparency, honesty and integrity.
Mr. Kennedy is secretary of health and human services.