Hundreds of employees and supporters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lined the sidewalks outside the agency’s Atlanta headquarters Thursday for a “clap out” rally to honor three senior leaders who resigned a day earlier in protest of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine attacks on the agency and public health at large.

Dr. Deb Houry, former deputy director and chief medical officer; Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, former director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; and Dr. Daniel Jernigan, former director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, walked through the crowd, hugging former colleagues and accepting bouquets of flowers.

They resigned Wednesday after HHS announced that Kennedy had fired CDC Director Susan Monarez, who had been in her post for less than a month. Monarez’s lawyers disputed her firing, saying that only the president had the authority to fire her and claiming that she had been pushed out for refusing “to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts.”....

Some in Congress are listening. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a doctor who chairs the Senate’s health committee and whom Monarez reportedly contacted Monday with concerns about Kennedy’s demands, called for “oversight” Wednesday night. On Thursday, he said an upcoming vaccine advisory meeting should be canceled. “If the meeting proceeds, any recommendations made should be rejected as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership,” Cassidy, who was instrumental in approving Kennedy’s nomination, said in a statement.