CDC Director Susan Monarez Disputes Ouster From Health Agency

Topline

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez disputed her firing Wednesday, with attorneys for the health agency’s leader saying she has not “resigned nor yet been fired” after the Health and Human Services Department said she was out as director.

The HHS announced Monarez’s removal Wednesday evening. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

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Key Facts

The HHS said Monarez is “no longer” the CDC’s director, thanking her for her “dedicated service to the American people.”

Mark S. Zaid, an attorney for Monarez, said in a statement the ditrector “has neither resigned nor received notification from the White House that she has been fired.”

Zaid alleged Monarez “refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts she chose” to protect “the public over serving a political agenda,” adding Monarez was “targeted” for her actions.

No official reason for Monarez’s departure was given, but The New York Times reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, she “appeared to have run afoul of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. by objecting to his changes to the panel of experts who advise the agency on vaccine policy.”

Monarez was confirmed by the Senate on July 29 and sworn in as CDC director on July 31, when Kennedy said in a statement he had “full confidence in her ability to restore the CDC’s role as the most trusted authority in public health.”

Prior to her swearing in, Monarez was serving as the acting director of the CDC since President Donald Trump’s second term began and was the first CDC director since 1953 to not be a medical doctor.

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What We Don’t Know

Who will become the CDC’s next acting director. The agency’s chief medical officer, Debra Houry, is also leaving the agency, STAT News reported, citing an email Houry sent to CDC staff in which she said “the ongoing changes prevent me from continuing in my job as a leader of the agency.” Houry added science should “never be censored or subject to political interpretations.” Forbes has reached out to HHS for comment on Monarez’s potential replacement.

Tangent

Jennifer Layden, another top-ranking CDC official, who oversees the agency’s Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology, is also leaving the agency, according to Politico.

Key Background

The role of CDC director has been in flux since Trump took office. While Monarez served as acting director, the White House withdrew Trump’s nomination of vaccine skeptic and former Florida congressman Dave Weldon for the director role. CBS cited an unnamed administration official who said it became clear Weldon did not have the support needed to receive Senate confirmation. The CDC, which was recently targeted in an attack that resulted in hundreds of bullets being shot at its Atlanta headquarters, has undergone significant changes since Kennedy, who is also a vaccine skeptic, became health secretary. Following the shooting, which was carried out by a man who believed the COVID-19 vaccine made him ill, over 700 HHS workers sent letters to Kennedy urging him to publicly condemn misleading claims about vaccines. The agency recently issued termination notices to 600 employees, including 100 people who work in violence prevention.