The Donald Trump administration removed the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from her position less than a month after her Senate confirmation, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Wednesday.
"Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people," the department wrote on the US social media company X.
The statement emphasised Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s support for the remaining CDC staff. Kennedy "will continue to be vigilant in protecting Americans against infectious diseases at home and abroad," it said.
Attorneys for Monarez rejected the department’s statement as being “legally deficient,” however. “Our client was notified tonight by White House staff in the personnel office that she was fired,” said lawyers Mark Zaid and Abbe David Lowell.
“As a presidential appointee, Senate-confirmed officer, only the president himself can fire her,” they said, noting Monarez remains in the post.
In an earlier statement, they accused Kennedy and the HHS of “weaponising public health for political gain,” claiming that Monarez was targeted because she refused to approve "unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts."
Shortly after, three other senior CDC officials resigned, according to media reports. CDC Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry, National Center for Immunisation and Respiratory Diseases Director Demetre Daskalakis and National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases Director Daniel Jernigan resigned from the agency, Politico reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Daskalakis posted his resignation letter on the US social media company X following the developments, saying he can no longer serve in an environment that he believes "treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality."
He cited specific concerns over changes in immunisation schedules that "threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people" and a lack of transparency regarding the data supporting these decisions.
Daskalakis listed "radical non-transparency" and the "unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end” as reasons for him to resign.
Neither Kennedy nor the HHS has publicly commented on Daskalakis’ statements. Monarez, a microbiologist with a PhD, was confirmed by the Senate on July 29 and sworn into office by Kennedy on July 31.
Her brief leadership occurred during significant turmoil at the CDC, the nation's premier public health agency responsible for disease surveillance, outbreak response and health protection.
The CDC has faced considerable challenges during her tenure, including policy changes and staff cuts implemented under Kennedy's oversight.
Nearly 10,000 HHS workers were laid off in March as part of an effort to shrink the federal workforce, to reduce the department's staff from 82,000 full-time workers to 62,000.
