Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abruptly fired two of his prime aides, rattling his division’s management workforce amid his broader assault on the nation’s public well being equipment.
The 2 ousted officers—chief of employees Heather Flick Melanson and deputy chief of employees for coverage Hannah Anderson—had been dismissed after just a few months on the job. CNN, which first reported the firings, mentioned Kennedy had misplaced confidence in each, although it’s unclear what triggered the transfer.
In an announcement to CNN, an HHS spokesperson confirmed the departures and mentioned White Home liaison Matt Buckham would function performing chief of employees efficient instantly.
“He brings valuable experience in personnel strategy and organizational management to this new role,” the spokesperson mentioned. “Secretary Kennedy thanks the outgoing leadership for their service and looks forward to working closely with Mr. Buckham as the Department continues advancing its mission to Make America Healthy Again.”
No everlasting replacements have been named.
The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, proven in 2013.
HHS oversees the work of main federal well being businesses, together with the Meals and Drug Administration, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, and the Nationwide Institutes of Well being—establishments now squarely within the crosshairs of Kennedy’s largely anti-science agenda. The management churn hasn’t stopped with Kennedy’s personal employees, both. In keeping with The Washington Publish, NIH’s chief working officer, Eric Schnabel, was lately fired as nicely.
The assorted shakeups come mere months into Kennedy’s tenure and go away him scrambling to fill key management roles amid mounting scrutiny of his radical plans to reshape well being coverage, intestine vaccine applications, and overhaul the construction of the division itself.
Flick Melanson was certainly one of Kennedy’s extra seasoned Washington gamers, having beforehand served as performing basic counsel and senior adviser to then-HHS Secretary Alex Azar throughout Trump’s first time period. Anderson, a former GOP Hill staffer and coverage adviser to Senate Republicans, had lately labored on well being care on the America First Coverage Institute, a pro-Trump assume tank.
Politico reported that Flick Melanson had been seen by some as a steadying hand—somebody who understood the features of the division, given issues about how aggressively Kennedy may pursue his anti-science agenda.
And but, backed by President Donald Trump, Kennedy has charged forward together with his “Make America Healthy Again” campaign. Not solely did he hearth all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel and exchange them with loyalists, however he additionally revealed a broadly criticized, error-filled report on childhood diseases. And he’s moved to axe 20,000 HHS staffers and slash dozens of company divisions—all whereas dealing with a wave of authorized challenges.
His battle on artificial meals dyes faces business adjustments. And underneath his watch, HHS has taken a sequence of anti-vaccine actions that consultants say have eroded public confidence in immunizations.
Extra chaos at HHS underneath Kennedy. No shock there.
