As of April 1, 2026, 80% of the top positions at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) remain vacant, including the director, chief medical officer, and principal deputy director positions. According to a current CDC employee, work is “more or less at a standstill,” and productivity has slowed because all decisions, including minor requests such as permission to travel to a field office, must be approved by Health and Human Services (HHS) leadership, since the manager position for their area is vacant.
The CDC Data Project, an independent group that monitors federal public health agencies, reports that 20 of 25 CDC center directors have resigned or been forced out under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s leadership. The former CDC Director, Susan Monarez, was confirmed by Congress but fired by Secretary Kennedy just one month into her term. The position has remained unfilled for about 8 months.
Dr. Debra Houry, the former CDC chief medical officer who resigned in protest last August, told Congress that she left because Secretary Kennedy had “repeatedly censored CDC science and politicized our processes.” She told reporters that, by failing to fill her former position and other top positions, RFK had eroded the agency’s ability to safeguard Americans’ health, saying “[h]e is dismantling public health in our country.”