Christine Grady, wife of Anthony Fauci, was fired from her job as bioethics department head at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Centers, Breitbart reported. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also "reassigned" several of Fauci's former staffers.
Fauci is best known for his role as the top adviser during the coronavirus pandemic. He had served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and later as the White House chief medical adviser under then-President Joe Biden.
Some believe Kennedy was compelled to fire Grady and the others because of a vendetta against the COVID-19 vaccines. Fauci was also notoriously in favor of draconian lockdowns, as well as vaccine and mask mandates.
With the elimination of these jobs, Kennedy's office has greatly reduced the infectious disease division as well as sections of the Food and Drug Administration. Perhaps it signals a philosophical change with Kennedy now at the helm as some cry foul.
Kennedy's critics at Politico were apoplectic about the change, but Kennedy explained his reasoning in a lengthy post to X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday. "This is a difficult moment for all of us at HHS," Kennedy wrote.
"Our hearts go out to those who have lost their jobs. But the reality is clear: what we've been doing isn't working. Despite spending $1.9 trillion in annual costs, Americans are getting sicker every year," Kennedy continued.
"In the past four years alone, the agency’s budget has grown by 38% — yet outcomes continue to decline. We must shift course HHS needs to be recalibrated to emphasize prevention, not just sick care," Kennedy added.
He added that the "changes will not affect Medicare, Medicaid, or other essential health services," Kennedy wrote. "This overhaul is about realigning HHS with its core mission: to stop the chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again. It’s a win-win for taxpayers and for every American we serve," Kennedy concluded.
This is a difficult moment for all of us at HHS. Our hearts go out to those who have lost their jobs. But the reality is clear: what we've been doing isn't working. Despite spending $1.9 trillion in annual costs, Americans are getting sicker every year. In the past four years…
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) April 1, 2025
While Kennedy's rationale makes complete sense, Politico insinuates that Kennedy is interested only in retribution. "As an anti-vaccine activist, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent years attacking Anthony Fauci and sowing doubts about the successful effort he led to develop a Covid vaccine," the news outlet claimed.
"As HHS secretary, he’s exacting his revenge," authors Adam Cancryn and Erin Schumaker added. The article explained that Grady was fired, and three others who were "Fauci’s longtime colleagues" at the NIH could choose reassignment to Alaska or leave employment.
"It’s like a Fauci fixation," claimed Scripps Research Translational Institute head and public health expert Dr. Eric Topol. "So many of these people are just dedicated; they really want to do good, and now they’re losing their jobs senselessly," he added.
Even if Kennedy's motives are not pure, there's no doubt that the public health officials flubbed the pandemic response. The lying and obfuscation, the measures that didn't work, and the coercion are all reason enough to dismiss these people, including Grady.
The people who were supposed to guard public health did a lousy job when they were needed most. Unless Kennedy thoroughly cleans house, there's no way to get rid of the rot that caused the debacle in the first place.
