The White House said Wednesday that Susan Monarez has been fired from her post as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) after she refused to step down from the position.
“As her attorney’s statement makes abundantly clear, Susan Monarez is not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement.
“Since Susan Monarez refused to resign despite informing [Department of Health and Human Services] leadership of her intent to do so, the White House has terminated Monarez from her position with the CDC,” Desai added.
HHS posted a statement on social platform X Wednesday evening saying, “Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
Prominent Washington, D.C. attorneys Abbe Lowell and Mark Zaid released a defiant statement on her behalf shortly thereafter.
“When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted,” the statement said.
“Dr. Monarez has neither resigned nor received notification from the White House that she has been fired, and as a person of integrity and devoted to science, she will not resign,” it added.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Monarez to resign or be fired on Monday over tensions around vaccine policy. The CDC director is appointed, confirmed by the Senate and then can only be removed by the White House.
Monarez, during her confirmation hearing, told Democrats that “vaccines save lives” and said there was no evidence vaccines cause autism — but treaded a fine line after the previous nominee failed to garner enough support.
Four top CDC officials announced their resignations Wednesday evening shortly after Monarez was fired, including Deb Houry, the chief medical officer and the agency’s deputy director for program and science.
At least three others also submitted a resignation letter: Demetre Daskalakis, head of the agency’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; Dan Jernigan, head of the CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; and Jennifer Layden, head of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier Wednesday approved updated COVID-19 shots for those at a “high risk” for severe infection. The agency also rescinded emergency use authorizations for the vaccine, with Kennedy saying the move was made to end mandates.
