A Bad Choice for HHS Deputy, Jim O’Neill is an Even Worse Choice for Acting CDC Chief
WASHINGTON, D.C. – After purportedly firing Susan Monarez, U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy named Jim O’Neill, the deputy secretary of HHS, as the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). O’Neill has suggested that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration grant regulatory approval to drugs based solely on safety, regardless of whether they work. Dr. Robert Steinbrook, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, issued the following statement:
“A tech investor with no medical or public health background and extremist libertarian views, Jim O’Neill was unfit for the number two position at HHS and manifestly unqualified to lead the CDC. Unlike Susan Monarez, O’Neill is likely to rubber stamp dangerous vaccine recommendations from HHS Secretary Kennedy’s handpicked appointees to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and obey orders to fire CDC public health experts with scientific integrity.
“Although the CDC urgently needs new leadership, no credible public health authority is likely to work for Kennedy, who is dictating the agency’s decisions based on whim, not science. The only path forward is for Kennedy to go, which Congress, professional organizations, medical journals, and the public should demand.”