Overview

• At Thursday’s briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized Demetre Daskalakis for referring to pregnant women as “pregnant people,” saying he is not someone the administration wants.
• Leavitt added that officials not aligned with the president’s and the HHS secretary’s public-health vision would be shown the door.
• On CNN, Daskalakis said he used the term and included his pronouns in his resignation letter to defy what he described as attempts to erase transgender people.
• Daskalakis asserted that no one from his CDC center has briefed the HHS secretary on measles, COVID-19, or flu, claiming CDC expertise is being bypassed.
• His resignation, effective Aug. 28, followed the removal of CDC Director Susan Monarez and HHS changes to vaccine advisory structures and immunization schedules, alongside departures by Deb Houry and Dan Jernigan.