TOXIC

RFK Jr.’s Agency Faces Fresh Chaos With Bombshell Departure

An official hired to restore confidence in the CDC is headed for the exit after just six months.

A top official is fleeing the turmoil at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s increasingly embattled Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Jennifer Shuford, the CDC’s deputy director and chief medical officer, confirmed Monday night that she’s quitting just six months after joining the federal agency.

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“I am leaving to spend more time with my family,” she told the Washington Post. “I am so thankful to President Trump and Secretary Kennedy for giving me the opportunity to help lead CDC. It has been an amazing experience, and I will be forever grateful for it.”

Shuford, an infectious disease specialist who previously worked as commissioner for the Texas Department of State Health Services, is expected to leave office after the Nov. 3 midterm elections, according to the Post.

A source familiar with her departure told the newspaper that she had concerns about the administration’s handling of vaccine policy.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy is a longtime vaccine skeptic who has repeatedly pushed bogus claims that jabs cause autism and even changed CDC website guidance to question the scientific consensus that they do not.

He has also railed against the safety of established childhood immunizations and promoted the baseless theory that COVID-19 may have been bioengineered to target specific ethnic groups, as well as calling coronavirus shots the “deadliest vaccine ever made.”

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The CDC hired Shuford in April to help rebuild public confidence in the agency amid a series of controversies and upheavals.

Senior staff were initially optimistic about her arrival because she was willing to speak out about a measles resurgence in Texas that Kennedy has consistently downplayed.

The CDC has confirmed 4,588 cases this year, more than double the 2,289 recorded throughout 2025, with 479 patients requiring hospitalization.

Shuford’s departure comes after Kennedy got into an explosive confrontation last August with then-CDC chief Susan Monarez, who was fired after just 28 days on the job after refusing to approve updated vaccine guidance.

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By that point, Kennedy had already dismissed all 17 experts on the agency’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, replacing them with his own selected officials.

A judge has since suspended several of those appointments amid legal challenges, though that has not kept the secretary from pushing sweeping staff reductions, resulting in hundreds of layoffs that have affected disease surveillance and other public health functions.

The Daily Beast has contacted HHS for comment on this story.

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