Leaked emails show CDC turmoil over vaccines under Trump administration

Andrew Nixon told CDC staff the request to pull flu vaccine ad buys from circulation was a direct ask from Secretary Kennedy. Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee released internal emails Thursday, June 25, 2026, showing pressure from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health team on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The committee said it obtained the messages from Debra Houry, the CDC’s former chief medical officer, who resigned after Susan Monarez was ousted.

The emails trace the pressure back to mid-February 2025, when CDC communications official Nicole Coffin told colleagues that Department of Health and Human Services communications chief Andrew Nixon had asked the agency to pull flu vaccine ad buys from circulation. Nixon told CDC staff the request was a direct ask from Secretary Kennedy, and Coffin said the focus should shift to “informed consent,” or messaging that emphasizes risks and benefits of vaccination. One CDC official warned Monarez and Houry that stopping the campaign in “the worst flu season in years” posed serious reputational and legal risk. The agency paused “Wild to Mild,” a flu campaign, while “Get My Flu Shot” was allowed to continue.

The emails deepen the picture of a White House health operation that was not just changing messages but trying to control the approval process itself. In August 2025, Matthew Buckham, then Kennedy’s chief of staff, emailed Monarez about the need for a “political review of major decisions at CDC … to ensure that [the Immediate Office of the Secretary] and the CDC political leadership all have eyes on the decisions for approval/changes before they go into effect.” Less than a week later, Kennedy fired Monarez after a dispute over vaccine policy and scientific process.

Kennedy had already shaken the agency by firing all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on June 9, 2025. The panel, which helps shape CDC vaccine recommendations, was scheduled to meet June 25-27, 2025, to consider several recommendations. Senator Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican who chairs the Senate health committee, criticized the purge and warned it could leave the panel filled with people who know little about vaccines except suspicion.

Senator Bernie Sanders, the committee’s ranking member, said the emails showed Kennedy “prioritized politics over public health, ignored expert guidance, and endangered people, particularly children.” Nine former CDC directors and acting directors later said Kennedy was endangering Americans’ health and warned that the changes threatened the agency’s mission. Former CDC leaders also cited the cancellation of $500 million in federally funded mRNA vaccine research.