Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is defending his reorientation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the wake of significant upheaval following the firing of the agency’s director and several top-ranking officials responsible for infectious disease prevention.

In an opinion piece published Tuesday afternoon, Kennedy said President Donald Trump asked him to restore public trust in the CDC and “return the CDC to its core mission” of fighting communicable diseases. 

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“The path forward is clear: Restore the CDC’s focus on infectious disease, invest in innovation, and rebuild trust through integrity and transparency,” Kennedy wrote in his Wall Street Journal op-ed on Tuesday. 

Kennedy’s article comes after a tumultuous week at the CDC in which the director of the agency, Susan Monarez, was fired ostensibly for not complying with Kennedy’s directive to fire her lower-level leadership. Following Monarez’s termination, four other high-ranking CDC officials resigned, citing dictatorial leadership from Kennedy and his office. 

Multiple reports confirmed that Monarez and the CDC leaders who resigned disapproved of the push from Kennedy’s allies to restrict approval of the COVID-19 vaccine to include only those with a comorbidity that puts them at risk for severe disease.

Shortly after the leadership sweep at the agency, former HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill, a close associate of Kennedy’s, was appointed by the White House to be acting CDC director until a permanent replacement is confirmed by the Senate. 

Kennedy, a lifelong critic of vaccines and state and federal vaccine policy, did not directly reference the string of resignations or the firing of Monarez in his opinion piece. Instead, he said the Trump administration has “replaced leaders who resisted reform.”

Kennedy wrote that the CDC has suffered from mission creep since its founding in 1946, when it was tasked with eradicating malaria from the continental United States. Originally, it was called the Communicable Disease Center. 

According to Kennedy, only a tenth of the agency’s employees are epidemiologists, and only half of the agency’s budget is spent on infectious diseases. 

To fix these problems, Kennedy wrote, the CDC is focusing on modernizing its infrastructure and systems, investing in an epidemiology workforce, and supporting local and state health departments on the front lines of disease outbreaks. 

Kennedy highlighted this year’s measles outbreak that started in an under-vaccinated Mennonite community in west Texas as an example of “what a focused CDC can achieve” and wrote that it was not influenced by diversity, equity, or inclusion, or DEI, politics. 

“That response was neither ‘pro-vax’ nor ‘antivax.’ It wasn’t distracted by ‘equity outcomes’ or politically correct language like ‘pregnant people.’ It was effective. And effectiveness—not politics—will be the watchword of our leadership,” wrote Kennedy. 

Kennedy wrote that a core mission of the CDC moving forward will be to “bring transparency and research” to the idea that medical interventions to prevent and cure infectious diseases can have adverse consequences. 

“Tools meant to fight disease—vaccines, antibiotics, therapeutics—can save lives but also trigger adverse events in some patients. That truth must no longer be ignored,” wrote Kennedy.

Last week, CDC staff were informed that they needed to return to in-person work at the agency headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, by Sept. 15, nearly five weeks after the building was attacked by a gunman who blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for his mental health problems.