On August 27, 2025, it was announced on X by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that Susan Monarez would no longer serve as the Director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The drastic decision followed tensions between Monarez and the Trump administration, reportedly sparked by a disagreement over vaccine policy. According to The New York Times, Monarez had clashed with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on this issue.
The White House, under President Trump, fired Monarez after she declined to resign. “Susan Monarez is not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again,” a statement from White House spokesperson Kush Desai, shared by NBC News, claimed. “Since [she] refused to resign despite informing HHS leadership of her intent to do so, the White House has terminated Monarez from her position with the CDC.”
In response to this statement, Monarez’s attorneys, Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell, defended her by emphasizing how she prioritizes science and public health over politics. “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,” they stated in an interview with NBC News. “For that, she has been targeted.” To explain this bold statement, her lawyers added that Kennedy and the HHS “[weaponized] public health for political gain and [put] millions of American lives at risk,” as reported by Daily Beast.
After her dismissal, and before formally being fired, Monarez’s attorneys insisted that she had neither officially stepped down nor been formally informed of her termination, making their last effort to protect Monarez’s position as director. They explained on NBC News how “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.”
The fallout from Monarez’s firing has been swift, with NBC News reporting that at least four senior CDC officials resigned in the aftermath. They include Dr. Debra Houry, Chief Medical Officer; Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; Dr. Daniel Jernigan, Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; and Dr. Jen Layden, Director of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology.
The Washington Post noted that HHS Secretary Jim O’Neil has been appointed to serve as acting CDC director. The long-term implications of Monarez’s firing and the exodus following this tragic moment remain uncertain, but the episode underscores a growing rift between science-driven public health leadership and policies that are politically motivated by the federal government.
