The White House has dismissed Susan Monarez, the recently appointed head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), after she refused to resign amid a tense standoff with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vocal vaccine skeptic.
Monarez, a veteran health scientist and civil servant, had been in the role for less than a month when Kennedy’s department abruptly announced her removal on X, saying she was “no longer director.”
Her lawyers immediately pushed back, insisting she had neither resigned nor been formally notified of her dismissal.
They argued that only the president could legally fire her, rejecting the initial notification as “deficient.” Hours later, the White House confirmed she had in fact been terminated.
“Susan Monarez is not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement. “Since she refused to resign despite informing HHS of her intent to do so, the White House has terminated her position at the CDC.”
Monarez’s legal team accused Kennedy of “weaponizing public health for political gain and putting millions of American lives at risk,” highlighting growing tensions over the administration’s sweeping overhaul of U.S. vaccine policy.
The fallout was immediate. At least five senior CDC officials resigned in protest, according to the union representing more than 2,000 agency employees.
“Many felt forced to walk away from the jobs they loved because politics left them no choice,” the AFGE Local 2883 union said. “Vaccines save lives.”
Among those who quit was Demetre Daskalakis, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, who wrote on X:
“I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than improve public health.”
Other high-ranking departures included Debra Houry, the CDC’s chief medical officer, and Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases.
Since taking office as HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has aggressively reshaped U.S. vaccine policy, moves that have drawn sharp criticism from scientists and health experts.
His changes have included:
Dismissing leading immunization specialists
Restricting access to Covid-19 vaccines
Cutting funding for the development of new vaccines
These actions run counter to global scientific consensus and have fueled accusations of political interference in public health.
Monarez herself had been confirmed by the Senate and sworn in by Kennedy on July 31. Her departure leaves the CDC, already reeling from an armed attack on its Atlanta headquarters earlier this month, in deeper crisis.
That attack, reportedly carried out by a man who blamed the Covid vaccine for his illness, underscored the growing risks faced by public health officials in an increasingly politicized climate.
Hundreds of current and former CDC employees have since signed an open letter condemning Kennedy’s actions, accusing him of endangering lives by spreading misinformation about vaccines.
