Centers for Disease Control Susan Monarez has been fired after less than a month on the job amid a sprawling feud with President Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over what she calls “politicization” of vaccines and other public health misinformation.
At least four top leaders of the nation’s top public health agency quit in protest of Monarez’s ouster in a sign of widespread turmoil over health policy under RFK Jr., a longtime skeptic of vaccines and critic of the medical establishment.
Monarez was fired because she isn’t “aligned with” Trump’s agenda, White House spokesman Kush Desai said. Her lawyers said she was targeted for standing up for science and safeguarding the health of the American people.
“She chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted,” attorneys Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell wrote in a statement. “This is not about one official. It is about the systematic dismantling of public health institutions, the silencing of experts, and the dangerous politicization of science.”
In a resignation mail, CDC deputy director Debra Houry lamented the crippling effects on the agency from planned budget cuts, reorganization and firings.
Houry also noted the rise of misinformation about vaccines under RFK Jr. and new limits on CDC communications.
“For the good of the nation and the world, the science at CDC should never be censored or subject to political pauses or interpretations,” she wrote.
Monarez, 50, was the agency’s 21st director. She was named acting director in January and then tapped as the nominee in March after Trump abruptly withdrew his first choice, David Weldon, amid questions about his anti-vaccine views.
She was sworn in on July 31, making her the shortest-serving CDC director in the history of the 79-year-old agency.
On Aug. 8, a Georgia man opened fire on the agency’s headquarters after echoing right-wing propaganda about the COVID-19 vaccine. He killed a police officer and fired more than 180 shots into CDC buildings before killing himself.
The CDC has been hit by widespread staff cuts, resignations of key officials and heated controversy over long-standing CDC vaccine policies upended by RFK Jr., a prominent skeptic of vaccines who has spent years battling the medical establishment.
Democratic lawmakers slammed the move and the Republican chair of the Senate health committee vowed to hold oversight hearings on the CDC upheaval.
“It’s outrageous that Kennedy is trying to fire the CDC Director — after only a few weeks on the job — for her commitment to public health & vaccines,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), the ranking opposition member on the panel.
