Media

Over his more than thirty year career, Dan Jernigan has been quoted or featured in various media reports, including CNN, NPR, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, MSNow, and other broadcast venues including interviews on 60 Minutes, Frontline, Good Morning America, CBS Mornings, The Weeknight on MSNBC, PBS Newshour, ABC World News Tonight and others. He has also spoken at the National Press Club several times and has been featured in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Reuters, Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, and others.

Below are selected media coverage since August 2025

August 7, 2026

CNN Interview

CNN News Central One Year From Shooting.mp4

One Year After Deadly CDC Shooting

CNN's Brianna Keilar speaks with Dr. Daniel Jernigan, former CDC center director, about the RFK Jr visit one year after the fatal shooting at CDC.

August 7, 2026

STAT OpEd

I was in my office when bullets hit the CDC. A year later, the agency remains under attack“It was briefly more dangerous to sit at a desk in Atlanta than to chase a hemorrhagic fever in the field,” writes Daniel Jernigan.

August 6, 2026

CNN Report

One year after shooting, CDC workers say they still feel like targets | CNNA year after a shooting at the CDC, a half-dozen current and former staff who were on campus during the shooting or who dealt with its aftermath reveal that they continue to deal with deep trauma.

July 31, 2026

Lancet

Cyclospora in the USA: why is it so hard to stop?

Susan Jaffe. Available at https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01549-7/fulltext#f10

July 28, 2026

CIDRAP

A difficult-to-trace parasite, messaging missteps contribute to summer of overwhelming Cyclospora outbreaks

July 22, 2026

The Guardian

CDC cuts leave US less prepared for disease outbreaks, former officials warnAs measles, hantavirus and cyclospora spread, experts say lost staff and expertise are slowing the response

July 20, 2026

CNN Interview

CNN This Morning Weekend - Tracking Cyclosporiasis Outbreak_ A Public Health Challenge.mp4

July 16, 2026

ABC News

Video Former CDC staffer on cyclospora outbreak responseDr. Dan Jernigan, former CDC infectious diseases director, discusses the cyclospora outbreak and the ongoing search for its source.

July 15, 2026

Washington

Post

How much did CDC cuts really impact this cyclosporiasis outbreak? The cuts would have little effect on the current situation, a former agency official said, but do constrain CDC's ability to track longer-term disease trends and risks. Available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/07/15/how-much-did-cdc-cuts-really-impact-this-cyclosporiasis-outbreak/

June 23, 2026

House and Senate Hearing

House and Senate Oversight Hearing "Abandoning Americans to Disease"

June 5, 2026

Bloomberg Interview

How Funding Cuts Left the World Vulnerable to Ebola

A strain with no known treatment or vaccine is spreading fast, and the international system built to contain outbreaks is in crisis.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-06-04/ebola-crisis-tests-global-health-system-weakened-by-funding-cuts

May 25, 2026

CNN Interview

CNN News Central - Dr. Dan Jernigan.mp4

CNN Interview on Bundibugyo Ebolavirus outbreak in DRC and Uganda, Jernigan emphasizes the critical importance of community engagement in controlling Ebola outbreaks.

May 23, 2026

CNN Interview

CNN This Morning Weekend - Ebola Outbreak Concerns Amid Global Health Cuts (1).mp4

CNN interview with Jernigan, Saturday May 23, 2026, on the growing Bundibugyo outbreak, highlighting that working with WHO and international partners is necessary for bringing it under control.

May 21, 2026

MSNOW

Authored OpEd

Opinion | ‘Why is RFK Jr. attacking vaccines?’ The answer is not what you think.We need radical transparency in how Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services is being managed.

May 12, 2026

NewsNation Interview

NewsNation interview on Hantavirus Cruise Ship Outbreak with Jernigan

May 9, 2026

MSNOW Interview

‘Let the scientists speak’: Ex-CDC official checks Trump as Hantavirus response stirs up concernThere's growing concern over hantavirus and whether Trump's CDC, which has faced cuts, can effectively respond. Dr. Dan Jernigan, the former CDC director for emerging diseases who resigned in protest, joins The Weekend to discuss.

May 7, 2026

NYT

Hantavirus Response Shows How Trump Cuts Have Compromised U.S. PreparednessThe Trump administration has slashed funding for infectious disease research and has far fewer employees, including disease detectives, to respond to outbreaks.

May 5, 2026

news.aai.org

Experts Discuss the Future of U.S. Vaccine Policy at IMMUNOLOGY2026™ - AAI NewsExperts discussed the state of U.S. vaccine policy and the role of scientists and professional societies in moving forward.

March 23, 2026

NYT Magazine

Inside the Turmoil at RFK Jr.’s CDC, as Told by Current and Former EmployeesForty-three current and former C.D.C. employees on the changes they say are replacing science with ideology — and making Americans more vulnerable.

March 3, 2026

NYT

Parents Tried to Shield Their Children From Vaccines. Instead They Got Measles.Spartanburg County in South Carolina is ground zero for the largest measles outbreak since 2000. One school has a vaccination rate of 21 percent.

February 27, 2026

NPR Interview

Why it's a bit surprising that the U.S. is attending a key global flu meetingAfter the U.S. withdrew from the World Health Organization, it wasn't clear they would participate in this WHO-led meeting to determine the recipe for the next flu vaccine.

February 15, 2026

STAT

Exit of CDC’s acting director highlights agency’s lack of leaderThe lack of a Senate-confirmed leader is deepening the turmoil at the CDC.

January 13, 2026

Medscape

Former CDC Leaders Offer Alternative ID Surveillance OptionsWhile most infectious disease surveillance remains reliable at the CDC, it’s unclear if that will continue; officials point to other sources to consider.

November 20, 2025

The Atlantic

The CDC’s Website Is Anti-Vaccine NowThe agency’s revamped vaccine-safety page enshrines Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s fringe beliefs as government guidance.

November 19, 2025

AHCJ Webinar

Trust, public health reporting and the CDC: Insider perspectivesIn this webinar, hear from former CDC officials on where to go for reliable reporting resources after the dismantling of the agency.

December 3, 2025

STAT

Authored OpEd

CDC’s vaccine advisory panel faces a crisis of its own making“ACIP has drifted toward inflating speculative risks while downplaying well-established vaccine benefits,” write former CDC officials Demetre Daskalakis, Daniel Jernigan, and Debra Houry.

October 15, 2025

STAT

Doctor groups need to ‘step up to the plate’ as CDC guidance becomes harder to trust, former leaders sayLayoffs, leadership changes, and politics have made CDC information less trustworthy, former CDC officials say at STAT Summit Boston.

January 7, 2026

The Guardian

‘Astounding’ vaccine change puts US behind peer countries, experts warnScientists predict increased disease outbreaks after Trump officials no longer recommend third of childhood vaccines

November 21, 2025

MSNOW

Authored OpEd

We are former CDC officials. RFK Jr.'s change to vaccine guidance is propaganda.Under Secretary Kennedy, CDC materials can no longer be assumed to reflect scientific authority.

September 9, 2025

The New Yorker

Inside the Chaos at the C.D.C.A former senior official and two current employees describe the turmoil at the agency under R.F.K., Jr.,’s stewardship.

January 16, 2026

Rolling Stone

HHS Gave a $1.6 Million Grant to a Controversial Vaccine Study. These Emails Show How That HappenedTwo Danish researchers faced accusations of “questionable research practices” as RFK Jr.’s top appointees made their study a “funding priority.”

August 29, 2025

GPB (NPR-PBS)

WATCH: Hundreds gather in Atlanta to support CDC's top brass after resignationsFour directors at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resigned within 24 hours of the firing of director Susan Monarez by the White House. GPB's Sofi Gratas reports on the response by Atlanta's global health community.

January 14, 2026

Conversations on Health Podcast Interview

Jernigan Lessons from Ebola West Africa 2014-16 - Images.pptx

Ebola Lecture Slides

With the rapid and concerning emergence of the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak, I thought it might be helpful to share a slide set from my time as Incident Manager for the 2014-16 West Africa Ebola outbreak. This goes through the history of the outbreak, describes the response pillars we used, the targeted house to house effort to halt spread, and lessons learned from viewing the outbreak as a systems problem as much as an infectious disease problem. This can be viewed at www.linkedin.com/in/danieljernigan

House and Senate Oversight Democrats Hearing - June 23, 2026

Here’s a link to yesterday’s combined Senate and House hearing I joined on impacts to public health from the current administration (Abandoning Americans to Disease Hearing). A committee report on the issue was also released for the hearing titled "Abandoning Americans to Disease: The Trump Administration’s Reckless Crusade is Harming America’s Health".

Huge thanks to Barbara Marston, Greta Massetti, Karen Hacker, MD, MPH, Thomas Farley, Amy Lansky, Sarah Wiley and the CDC Alumni and Friends for supporting this.

The text of my opening statement is provided above.

Transcript of Opening Statement

2026-06-23 Senate and House Oversight Hearing Jernigan Oral.docx

Video of the Hearing

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