The health secretary ousted his chief of staff and a deputy chief of staff, both of whom were seen as practical and effective government veterans.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired two of his top aides this week, shaking up his leadership team at the Department of Health and Human Services amid an aggressive effort to reshape public health policy.
The firings included Heather Flick Melanson, his chief of staff, and Hannah Anderson, his deputy chief of staff for policy, according to two people familiar with the matter. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the personnel changes.
The reason for the ousters, which were first reported by CNN, was not immediately clear.
Both Ms. Flick Melanson and Ms. Anderson were seen as steady and effective government veterans. During a recent Senate hearing, Mr. Kennedy indicated that they were the people in his office to call to get things done. When one lawmaker raised a concern about regulations governing the amount of sugar in orange juice, Mr. Kennedy advised: “Why don’t you call Heather Flick or Hannah Anderson this week? And we will act on that as quickly as we can.”
But Mr. Kennedy has also demonstrated that he is willing to muscle his agenda forward. He has pushed ahead with a plan to fire about 20,000 staff members from the health department and pare down 28 divisions to 15 — all amid court challenges. His pressure campaign to rid the nation’s food supply of synthetic dyes has produced some results. Under Mr. Kennedy, the department has also taken a series of actions around vaccines that have chipped away at public confidence in the efficacy and safety of the shots.
He fired all 17 members of a federal vaccine policy board that makes influential decisions on the availability of the shots. At least three of the people Mr. Kennedy selected to replace the experts he ousted have taken part in lawsuits casting doubt on the safety or efficacy of vaccines.
In its first meeting, the new panel voted to rescind recommendations for flu vaccines that contain the ingredient thimerosal, which Mr. Kennedy has long linked to harms.
