The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was thrown into turmoil on Wednesday after a wave of top resignations. This took place just hours after the White House fired CDC Director Susan Monarez when she refused to resign.
On the same day, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced new limits on the latest approved round of COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S.
Highlights
- CDC Director Susan Monarez was fired by the White House just a month after her confirmation, sparking major resignations at the agency.
- Four senior CDC leaders resigned citing unscientific policies and a shift toward political agendas over public health.
- Experts warn that the weakening of the CDC amid this turmoil leaves the US less safe and more vulnerable to health crises.
Monarez was confirmed as CDC director only last month. She was sworn in by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after being nominated by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Top CDC officials resigned after Director Susan Monarez was fired
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On Wednesday, the Department of Health and Human Services said that Monarez was “no longer director” of the CDC. Hours later, Trump spokesman Kush Desai confirmed to The New York Times that the White House had fired her, saying she was “not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again.”
But Monarez’s lawyers, Mark S. Zaid and Abbe Lowell, rejected the termination. They argued that because Monarez is a Senate-confirmed presidential appointee, only the president can formally remove her.
“Our client was notified tonight by a White House staffer in the personnel office that she was fired,” they said in a statement. “We reject the notification Dr. Monarez has received as legally deficient and she remains as CDC Director.”
The standoff highlighted a larger power struggle inside the administration. Monarez’s lawyers claimed independent advisory committees, career experts, and seasoned scientists had been dismissed.
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They also said Monarez had been targeted and fired because she “refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda.”
“Now, Secretary Kennedy and HHS have set their sights on weaponizing public health for political gain and putting millions of American lives at risk,” the statement read.
Shortly after Monarez’s disputed firing, four senior CDC leaders announced their resignations: Dr. Debra Houry, chief medical officer; Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; Dr. Daniel Jernigan, who oversaw the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; and Dr. Jen Layden, head of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance and Technology.
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They cited issues with the organization’s “unscientific” policies and promotion of health “misinformation.”
“After much contemplation and reflection on recent developments and perspectives brought to light by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., I find that the views he and his staff have shared challenge my ability to continue in my current role at the agency and in the service of the health of the American people. Enough is enough,” Daskalakis wrote in a public resignation letter posted to X.
Daskalakis said the CDC had a desire to please a political base rather than the people
“Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults. Their base should be the people they serve not a political voting bloc,” he said, further stating that the director was sidelined by “an authoritarian leader.”
Daskalakis spoke of how people of “dubious scientific rigor” were put in charge of the COVID vaccine work group.
Houry, in her own letter, said, “Recently, the overstating of risks [of vaccines] and the rise of misinformation have cost lives, as demonstrated by the highest number of US measles cases in 30 years and the violent attack on our agency.”
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Former CDC directors and health officials expressed alarm over the resignations. Dr. Mandy Cohen, who led the agency during the second half of the Biden administration, said the resigning leaders were “exceptional” and warned that “the weakening of the C.D.C. leaves us less safe and more vulnerable as a country.”
“These guys are the best in the business. They know their stuff,” an anonymous CDC staffer told NBC News.
The leadership crisis comes just weeks after a gunman opened fire outside the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, angry about the COVID-19 vaccines, killing a policeman.
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Advisers close to Kennedy told The Daily Beast earlier this week that the administration intends to withdraw COVID-19 vaccines from circulation within months. The Food and Drug Administration, meanwhile, has already restricted updated shots for the fall season to older adults and high-risk groups.
Kennedy has long questioned vaccine safety, with his position being widely rejected by mainstream science. Since becoming health secretary, he has replaced members of CDC advisory panels with figures sympathetic to his views.
Late last week, HHS named a vocal COVID vaccine opponent to lead a safety review subcommittee. Kennedy has also repeatedly gone against the consensus of scientists and prior studies to announce new funding to study a possible vaccine-autism link.