ICYMI: Senator Markey, Former CDC Director Rochelle Walensky Slam Trump Administration’s Reckless and Irresponsible Anti-Vaccine Rhetoric, Dangerous Public Health Policies

Markey releases tracker to keep public informed of RFK Jr.'s dangerous actions

Senator Markey, Dr. Walensky, health care workers, and experts outside of Codman Square Community Health Center in Dorchester

Boston (September 6, 2025) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), top Democrat on the Primary Health and Retirement Security Subcommittee of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, held a press conference yesterday with Dr. Rochelle Walensky, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to slam Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his irresponsible anti-vaccine rhetoric and dangerous public health policies.

During the press conference, Senator Markey called for Secretary Kennedy's resignation and announced the release of a trackerfeaturing more than 80 of Kennedy's dangerous actions since he was confirmed as HHS Secretary in February.

"Our nation's public health is at risk because of the reckless and dangerous actions of President Trump and Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr. Ever since he was confirmed, Kennedy has been recklessly gutting life-saving research, slashing community health center funding, and spreading misinformation and outright lies about vaccines and science," said Senator Markey. "Vaccines aren't debatable, they are dependable. The American people deserve clarity, accountability, and rapid corrective action to restore vaccine access. They deserve a top health official who believes in science, who they can be certain is making decisions to protect their health. I am calling on every Republican: Join me and my Democratic colleagues, the multitude of medical associations, health care providers, nine former CDC directors, and over 1,000 current and former HHS employees and demand the resignation of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr."

"HHS leadership is inching toward a complete vaccine takedown, incrementally chiseling away at our previously trusted systems, leaving behind a shaky, fragmented vaccine facade that is increasingly obscure and untenable and that has already limited vaccine access," said Dr. Walensky. "While I was at CDC, and after my departure, I spoke frequently of our country's frail public health infrastructure and about the state of our preparedness for the next public health threat or the next pandemic. I reminisce about those now quaint days when lack of support for public health was our biggest challenge. Today, I'm most saddened by the lives that will be lost-those preventable deaths-because of the erosion of our vaccine infrastructure that had previously been designed to foster truth, transparency, and safety."

Senator Markey and Dr. Walensky were joined at the press conference by several health care workers and experts, including Dave Foley, President, SEIU Local 509; Dr. Mary Beth Miotto, Pediatrician, Mattapan Community Health Center, and Immediate Past President, Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics; Dr. Eli Freiman, Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physician, Newton Wellesley Hospital, and Officer of the Massachusetts Medical Society; Sarah Bessuille, Massachusetts Nurses Association Board of Directors; Christopher Locher, CEO and Co-Founder, Versatope Therapeutics; and Dr. Hannah Grunwald, Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard Medical School.

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