--- title: "CDC Official Quits in Spectacular Fashion" description: "Demetre Daskalakis resigned from a high-profile CDC position, writing that the crucial health agency no longer reflects \"scientific reality.\"" date: "2025-08-28" modified: "2025-08-28" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/cdc-official-quits-demetre-daskalakis" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "cdc" - "health" - "public health" - "rfk jr" --- # CDC Official Quits in Spectacular Fashion ![Demetre Daskalakis resigned from a high-profile CDC position, writing that the crucial health agency no longer reflects "scientific reality."]() *\Image: Gary Gershoff / Getty Images for Housing Works / Futurism\* Public health official Dr. Demetre Daskalakis resigned from his high-profile position at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) after months of [turmoil]() at the essential federal agency — and he made the reasons for his departure crystal clear. The charismatic Daskalakis held rank as the CDC's director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, [spearheading]() the government's response to mpox under former President Joe Biden. Yesterday, he [took to social media]() to share a copy of his scorching resignation letter, in which he named the destructive infusion of misinformation and pseudoscience — promoted by the [brainwormed]() Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr — into CDC guidance and research initiatives as key reasons for his departure. "Enough is enough," Daskalakis wrote in the letter, which was addressed to Debra Houry, the CDC's chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science. "I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality," he added, "and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public's health." https://twitter.com/dr_demetre/status/1960843433473376602?s=46&t=VizbU097VwHEpakM0efulQ Daskalakis' resignation comes just weeks after a gunman, who turned out to be a conspiracy theorist who believed that he'd somehow been injured by the COVID-19 vaccine, opened fire on the agency's headquarters in Atlanta, [killing a police officer]() — a father of two, with a third baby on the way — who responded to the scene. But Daskalakis made it clear that he's not stepping away because the agency was targeted with violence. In contrast, Daskalakis said in the letter, he's resigning because of Kennedy's [feeble response]() to the deadly shooting, which Daskalakis [and other current and former CDC staffers]() argue was motivated by the very kind of [destructive](), pseudoscientific conspiracies that [Kennedy]() [himself]() has played a hugely [consequential role]() in [advancing]() throughout the public consciousness. "The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so," Daskalakis wrote in the letter. "I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud. I am resigning because of the cowardice of a leader that cannot admit that HIS and his minions' words over decades created an environment where violence like this can occur." "I reject his and his colleagues' thoughts and prayers, and advise they direct those to people that they have not actively harmed," the doctor continued. The now-former CDC official also called specific attention to the [recent changes]() to the CDC's immunization schedules for adults and children, noting that the agency hasn't made the data backing the changes — which have been [widely decried]() by physicians and other public health professionals, and even caused the American Academy of Pediatrics to break from the CDC's vaccine guidance for the first time in its history — available to the public. Kennedy had [promised]() not to make changes to immunizations during his confirmation hearings, a pledge he swiftly went back on. Such changes, Daskalakis argued in his resignation letter, "threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people." He also condemned the Trump Administration's [attacks]() on [transgender people]() and chaotic cuts to [research]() and [international health initiatives](), decrying the White House's actions as "reckless" moves to "erase transgender populations, cease critical domestic and international HIV programming, and terminate key research to support equity." Daskalakis isn't the only top CDC official in the news. His departure also comes as CDC director Susan Monarez continues to fight her sudden firing, which occurred after a reported clash with Kennedy. Per [*NBC News*](), the White House defended the attempted firing by claiming Monarez isn't "aligned" with Kennedy's purported goal to "Make America Healthy Again." But Monarez, for her part, declared through lawyers that her forced removal is the result of her refusal to "rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts," and that she instead "chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda." **More on RFK Jr:** [*RFK Jr. Cancels Promising Work on Cancer Vaccine*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()