Trump questions COVID vaccine effectiveness as CDC faces leadership shakeup

Amid rising cases and flu season, resignations and new guidelines spark confusion, with lawmakers preparing to press Health Secretary RFK Jr. for answers.

(NBC)- As cold and flu season approaches and COVID cases continue to rise, a leadership shakeup at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, coupled with new restrictive vaccine guidelines, has created widespread confusion about who is eligible for COVID shots.

President Trump has weighed in, urging pharmaceutical companies to “justify the success of their various COVID drugs” and calling for clarity on the vaccines’ effectiveness. “Clear up this mess, one way or the other,” he said, appearing to question vaccines that were initially fast-tracked under his Operation Warp Speed program, which he has long praised as “one of the greatest achievements ever.”

The controversy follows sharp criticism from nine former CDC directors, who wrote in a New York Times op-ed that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is “endangering every American’s health.” The former CDC leaders also condemned Kennedy’s firing of Director Dr. Susan Monarez, who reportedly refused to “rubber-stamp dangerous and unfounded vaccine recommendations.”

Four other top CDC officials resigned in protest over the firing, with one, former CDC vaccine chief Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, telling NBC’s Meet the Press: “There is now an irresistible force that is going to make it impossible for CDC to maintain the validity of its science against ideology.”

Lawmakers are preparing to question Kennedy at a congressional hearing Thursday