Leaked Emails Show How RFK Jr.'s Team Tried to Shape CDC Decisions

A large batch of internal government emails was made public this week, showing how Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his team pushed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — known as the CDC — to change how it handles vaccines and public health. The emails cover events from early 2025 through last August. They were released by Democratic senators who said they got the emails from a former top CDC doctor. The emails show that CDC officials sometimes pushed back against orders they thought could harm public health.

One of the first big moments in the emails happened in February 2025, during flu season. A CDC communications official named Nicole Coffin told her coworkers that an HHS leader had asked the CDC to stop running ads that encouraged people to get flu shots. Coffin said the order 'came directly from the Secretary,' meaning Kennedy himself. The plan was to shift the message toward what Kennedy called 'informed consent,' which means telling people about both the risks and benefits of vaccines instead of simply encouraging them to get one.

Another CDC official warned that stopping the flu shot ads could cause serious problems. He wrote in an email that it was already 'the worst flu season in years' and that pausing the campaign could hurt the CDC's reputation. He also worried that stopping the ads might break legal agreements with outside contractors. A few days later, Coffin confirmed that HHS had told the CDC to immediately pause a vaccine ad campaign called 'Wild to Mild,' though a separate campaign called 'Get My Flu Shot' was allowed to continue.

A few months later, Kennedy made another major move. He removed all 17 members of a group called the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, or ACIP. This group is made up of health experts who decide which vaccines the country should recommend. Before Kennedy announced the change, an aide noted that most members had been appointed by the previous president, Joe Biden, and their terms would not be up until 2027 or 2028. Kennedy's team felt this gave Biden's picks too much influence over vaccine policy.

Internal meeting notes showed that Kennedy's team was frustrated, believing Biden had filled those spots at the last minute on purpose to block Kennedy's agenda. The notes said Kennedy wanted to replace 10 members of ACIP and that 'he doesn't care which members.' The goal, according to the notes, was to 'depoliticize' the committee by adding people who agreed more with Kennedy's views. Critics pointed out that replacing experts with allies of the secretary was itself a political move.

ACIP's decisions are very important because they affect which vaccines health insurance companies must cover. A federal judge later ruled in March that Kennedy's removal of all 17 members was unlawful and that the government had 'disregarded' required legal steps. The government appealed that ruling. Kennedy's new picks included personal allies, people who had criticized vaccines in the past, and at least one person who had invested in a vaccine company.

In mid-August, a senior HHS aide emailed CDC Director Susan Monarez and stressed that any major CDC policy decision needed 'political review' before it could move forward. Monarez had just been confirmed by the Senate and had only been formally leading the CDC for a short time. Eight days after receiving that email, she was fired. Several other top CDC officials also resigned around the same time, including the agency's chief medical doctor.

Monarez later wrote in a newspaper that Kennedy had pressured her to resign or be fired, and that he had asked her to approve changes to vaccine recommendations in advance. She also told the Senate that Kennedy pushed her to agree to changes in the childhood vaccine schedule and to fire CDC scientists. When she refused, she said, Kennedy told her he had already talked to the White House about removing her. HHS strongly denied her account and accused her of not following President Trump's executive orders.

Kennedy told senators a very different story. He said he never had a private meeting with Monarez and that other people were present at every meeting they had. He claimed he asked her to resign because she said she was not a trustworthy person — something Monarez denied saying. The fight over what really happened has not been fully settled. Months later, the CDC cut the number of recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11, a move that major health groups said could confuse parents and put children at risk.