At its best, the CDC is a scientific bulwark against disease. At its worst, it becomes an institution caught between science, politics, and profit. The question for us is whether the CDC can navigate these pressures and keep public trust — or whether the forces of politics and perception will continue to erode its authority. RFK Jr. appears to be on a mission to erect a firewall between regulatory responsibilities and the corporate profit motive. Time will tell if his efforts are beneficial, or if they damage the organization.

Music by: Andrii Poradovskyi (lNPLUSMUSIC – Pixabay)

Host: Alan
Research: Elena, the Roots of Today Archivist

Further Reading:

:CDC history & overviews

• Etheridge, Elizabeth W. Sentinel for Health: A History of the Centers for Disease Control. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “CDC Timeline/History.” (CDC Museum / CDC History pages).
• Pendergrast, Mark. Inside the Outbreaks: The Elite Medical Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010.

Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) & surveillance

• Langmuir, Alexander D. “The Epidemic Intelligence Service of the U.S. Public Health Service.” Public Health Reports 66, no. 9 (1951): 1006–1011.
• Thacker, Stephen B., and Donna L. Stroup. “Surveillance for Public Health.” Epidemiologic Reviews 16, no. 1 (1994): 164–190.

Smallpox eradication / international programs

• Foege, William H. House on Fire: The Fight to Eradicate Smallpox. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011.
• Henderson, D. A. Smallpox: The Death of a Disease. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2009.

MMWR & landmark reports

• Centers for Disease Control (CDC). “Pneumocystis Pneumonia—Los Angeles.” MMWR 30, no. 21 (June 5, 1981): 1–3. (First AIDS cluster report.)
• CDC. “MMWR—Past, Present, and Future.” MMWR 60 (Suppl) (2011): 1–6. (Good institutional overview.)

Vaccines & safety (if discussed)

• Offit, Paul A. The Cutter Incident: How America’s First Polio Vaccine Led to Today’s Growing Vaccine Crisis. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005.
• Hinman, Alan R., Walter Orenstein, and William Schaffner. “Vaccine-Preventable Diseases, Immunizations, and MMWR—1961–2011.” MMWR 60 (Suppl) (2011): 49–57.

Influenza & emerging infections (if covered)

Morens, David M., Gregory K. Folkers, and Anthony S. Fauci. “The Challenge of Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases.” Nature 430 (2004): 242–249.

CDC. “The 2009 H1N1 Pandemic: Summary Highlights.” (CDC retrospective).