Birx says CDC, FDA can handle Ebola response amid outbreak surge

Dr. Deborah Birx argued that the federal public health system still has the personnel to mount an Ebola response, even as senior posts at the CDC and FDA remain in flux and an outbreak in central Africa keeps spreading.

Speaking on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan on May 24, 2026, Birx said there was “a deep bench” at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration to handle the work, despite the absence of confirmed leaders at both agencies. The comment landed as the United States moved to tighten its own defenses. On May 18, the CDC said it and the Department of Homeland Security had announced enhanced travel screening, entry restrictions and public health measures aimed at keeping Ebola virus disease from entering the country.

The latest outbreak figures show why the warning still matters. By May 23, the CDC said the Democratic Republic of the Congo had recorded 746 suspected cases, 83 confirmed cases, 176 suspected deaths and 9 confirmed deaths. Uganda had 5 confirmed cases and 1 confirmed death, and later announced 3 additional cases tied to people who traveled from the Congo. One American who had been exposed while caring for patients in the Democratic Republic of the Congo tested positive for Ebola Bundibugyo disease on May 17 and was transported to Germany for treatment.

For now, U.S. officials say the immediate domestic risk remains limited. The CDC said no Ebola cases tied to the outbreak had been reported in the United States and that the risk to the general public remained low. But Birx’s confidence is colliding with a federal staffing picture that looks thinner than the one that existed during past Ebola crises. The CDC’s own leadership page showed multiple senior jobs vacant or in acting status, including the principal deputy director, the deputy director for program and science and chief medical officer, and the chief operating officer. NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya has been serving as acting CDC director since February 2026.

The FDA has also been through turnover. Marty Makary resigned as commissioner on May 12, and Kyle Diamantas was named acting commissioner. Reuters reporting and other coverage have described further leadership changes inside the agency, including turnover in the drug center. That matters because the FDA is central to the country’s medical countermeasure response, from diagnostics and vaccines to treatments and protective equipment.

The deeper test is whether today’s apparatus is more than reassurance. CDC deployed about 1,450 responders to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone during the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola epidemic, including 455 people with repeat deployments, and the World Health Organization later called that outbreak the largest and most complex Ebola outbreak since the virus was discovered in 1976. The WHO declared it a public health emergency of international concern on Aug. 8, 2014. FDA approved Ervebo, the first Ebola vaccine, on Dec. 19, 2019, and says two treatments are approved for Ebola virus disease caused by Zaire ebolavirus. Those tools help, but the current leadership churn shows that preparedness still depends on people as much as products.