“The Science” Crumbles: FDA Rescinds COVID-19 Vaccine Emergency Authorizations as CDC Faces Leadership Upheaval

On August 27, 2025, the Food and Drug Administration officially pulled the Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) for COVID-19 vaccines, ending the legal cover that justified sweeping mandates, censorship and top-down control of public health. At the same time, the FDA approved limited new boosters—but only for older and high-risk Americans, a far cry from the universal push of the past four years.

In a post on X, Secretary of Heath and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said:

I promised 4 things:

1. to end covid vaccine mandates.

2. to keep vaccines available to people who want them, especially the vulnerable.

3. to demand placebo-controlled trials from companies.

4. to end the emergency.

In a series of FDA actions today we accomplished all four goals. The emergency use authorizations for Covid vaccines, once used to justify broad mandates on the general public during the Biden administration, are now rescinded.

FDA has now issued marketing authorization for those at higher risk: Moderna (6+ months), Pfizer (5+), and Novavax (12+). These vaccines are available for all patients who choose them after consulting with their doctors.

The American people demanded science, safety, and common sense. This framework delivers all three.

Thank you @DrMakaryFDA for your leadership.

The timing couldn’t be worse for the CDC, which is now mired in a leadership collapse. Susan Monarez, tapped as CDC director just weeks ago, was abruptly removed. The Department of Health and Human Services made the announcement bluntly on social media:

Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people. @SecKennedy has full confidence in his team at @CDCgov who will continue to be vigilant in protecting Americans against infectious diseases at home and abroad.

Monarez’s legal team hit back, pointing out that only the President can dismiss a Senate-confirmed director. They noted she “has neither resigned nor received notification from the White House that she has been fired,” adding flatly that she “will not resign.”

The ouster set off a chain reaction. Four senior CDC leaders resigned in protest:

• Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases
• Dr. Debra Houry, Chief Medical Officer
• Dr. Daniel Jernigan, Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases
• Dr. Jen Layden, Director of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology

In his resignation letter, Dr. Daskalakis blasted HHS leadership for turning the CDC into a political tool:

“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 and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health.”

He further criticized a trend of radical non-transparency and manipulation of data for political ends:

“Recent changes in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people.” “I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end.”

He singled out HHS leadership:

“There has been an intentional eroding of trust in low-risk vaccines.”
“Policy is driven by unvetted and conflicted outside organizations… not the gold standard science of CDC and other reputable sources.”

He went further, accusing HHS of deliberate misrepresentation:

“I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end.”

Dr. Daskalakis also cited the “recklessness of the administration in their efforts to erase transgender populations” as well as “cease critical domestic and international HIV programming.”

Other departing officials warned of rising health threats and eroded capacity to respond. Dr. Debra Houry highlighted misinformation and budget cuts, citing the worst measles outbreak in decades and even a shooting at CDC headquarters as examples of spiraling challenges.

None of the resigning officials, as best as ALPolitics.com can determine, mentioned the association between the EULA-administered COVID mRNA shots and overall increased mortality, lack of protective efficacy, decreased fertility and increasing infant mortality, and other serious conditions and outcomes.

The combination of the FDA’s retreat on COVID shot emergency powers and the CDC’s unraveling leadership comes as public health credibility lies in tatters. What was once sold to Americans as “settled science” now looks like political expediency, profiteering, and a psychological operation of global proportions—with some of the internal “experts” who promulgated it now walking away.

For conservatives and advocates of health freedom, it’s confirmation that federal agencies misused their authority, misled the public, and are now crumbling under the weight of their own failed decisions.

The FDA’s climb-down and the CDC’s implosion raise a bigger question: after years of mandates, censorship, and shifting narratives, will Americans ever trust these agencies again?