June 4 – others. Jay Butler, a former Alaska Chief Medical Officer, resigned last week from a senior post in US centers for the control and prevention of diseases against the backdrop of an agency.
Butler has more than three decades of public health experiences. Since 2019, he has been the Deputy Director of CDC for Infectious Diseases.
“I think at this time I can do more about the health of the public outside the federal government,” he said on Tuesday about his resignation.
In an interview, Butler apologized that he was somehow unclear why he left CDC. Butler said “it’s time to continue and do something else.” But he added, “I think when you look at why it’s time, you can see what happens through the federal government as I can.”
He does not directly criticize the current CDC leadership or said there was a specific solution in the Second Trump Administration, which made him leave.
Butler, however, expressed concern about the latest mass firing at CDC and Covid-19 vaccine guidelines.
In April, more than 2,400 CDC officials were fired to be fired, according to national news. Butler said the agency lost a lot of experience and experience. The younger employees, “inspired by the mission of public health,” were often fired, he said.
“We have lost a lot of good people. And really assets for our nation are lost. And I think it’s the most crazy,” he said.
CDC’s mission protects America from diseases and other public health threats. Butler said it was “joy” to work there. He said CDC “is just an incredible blessing for our country and for the whole world.”
He also said that “no agency is perfect” and that the last few years have been “challenging”.
Asked if he said there were examples of problematic political intervention in the CDC under the Second Trump Administration, Butler declined to say. However, he was critical of the vaccination guidelines by a man who is now watching CDC and other federal health agencies, the US secretary of the healthcare Robert F. Kennedy -Jr., a skeptic of the vaccine that has long strengthened the conspiracy theories for immunizations.
“I do not understand part of what is called science or called ethics,” Butler said.
Last week, Kennedy said the Covid-19 vaccine would no longer be recommended for pregnant women or healthy children.
Butler said he was particularly “puzzled” by this decision.
“There is a lot of data that maintains the safety of forge vaccines during pregnancy. So this is where I think many of us scratch our heads,” he said.
Butler said he worked at the beginning of his career on HIV/AIDS prevention at CDC. A well -evaluated HIV program, credited with saving 26 million lives, must be resolved, but is currently in limbs. Butler expressed concerns about this and a worsening focus on HIV’s transmission in Africa.
“We are not looking at a bright future regarding HIV control,” he said.
At the end of May, a minor in fastening tests positively for measles. This followed 1000 cases of reports in 11 states.
CDC is currently saying on its website that a “highly effective vaccination program” has led to the elimination of measles in 2000 in the United States, but Kennedy has been criticized that it has not been clearly approved by vaccines as a way of preventing measles.
Butler said the measles vaccine has had a “excellent experience” for decades. He suggested that this could, opposite, be part of the problem of public health.
“We are a victim of our own success. When we do the job well, we are not in the titles and people forget. We see now with measles. We could surely see him with polio.
Butler said he had told CDC in February that he would resign. His last day was May 3.
It was based in Atlanta for the role until November last year. He said he moved back to Anchorage with the expectation that he would work “on the willingness and the epidemic” with the public health agencies in Asia and the Arctic.
Butler declined to say who was willing to replace him in CDC. But he said he was “absolutely” pleased with the choice of the Federal Agency.
He was succeeded by D -R Ann Zinc as Alaska Chief Medical Officer in 2019. He said he was a similar situation now.
“I like to leave a job when I know the person who accepts it will do a better job than me,” he said.
Butler plans to take the summer before looking for other opportunities.
“For at least the short foreseeable future, I like to say that these are the three F: family, friends and fish,” he said.