Opinion
Editorial Board

RFK Jr. cannot be contained

The ouster of Susan Monarez from the CDC is an ominous sign for American public health.

August 28, 2025 at 3:41 p.m. EDT 31 minutes ago
5 min


Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Susan Monarez, former director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. (Photos by Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post; Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

When Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health and human services secretary, he did so with the expectation that he and other serious people would be able to contain the worst impulses of the anti-vaccine activist. Cassidy, a physician and chair of the Senate health committee, said in a floor speech that he believed they could “have a great relationship to make America healthy again,” focused on the parts of Kennedy’s agenda that many found promising: tackling chronic diseases, promoting healthier food and reforming the nation’s health agencies.

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