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By Sonam Sheth
Evening Politics Editor
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The White House announced late Wednesday that it had fired Susan Monarez as the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
"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 told Politico. "Since Susan Monarez 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."
The confirmation capped hours of uncertainty over Monarez's position and whether she had indeed been removed as CDC director. The Department of Health and Human Services posted on social media earlier Wednesday that Monarez was "no longer" head of the public health agency, but her lawyers said their client was "targeted" for "protecting the public over serving a political agenda."
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They added that she had not resigned but was not told she had been fired at the time of the HHS' social media announcement.
Why It Matters
Monarez's removal as one of the nation's top public health officials happens against the backdrop of broader changes at the Department of Health and Human Services, where Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed all the members of an influential vaccine advisory panel and cut off funding for critical mRNA vaccines.
While Monarez pushed back on her ouster, three other top CDC officials resigned on Wednesday. Her attempted removal and the other resignations came hours after the Food and Drug Administration approved updated COVID-19 vaccines but imposed new limits on who can get the shots.
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What To Know
Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell, Susan Monarez's attorneys, told the Associated Press earlier Wednesday that their client "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."
"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," they told the AP.
That statement came after HHS wrote on social media that Monarez "is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people."
"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. The attack on Dr. Monarez is a warning to every American: our evidence-based systems are being undermined from within," Monarez's lawyers said.
Three other senior CDC officials also resigned on Wednesday: Dr. Debra Houry, the deputy director, Dr. Daniel Jernigan, head of the CDC's National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, head of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
"Enough is enough," Daskalakis wrote in his resignation letter to Houry, which he later posted to X on Wednesday. "I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public's health."
He added: "Having worked in local and national public health for years, I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people."
Daskalakis went on to criticize communications changes across the CDC, writing, "Having to retrofit analyses and policy actions to match inadequately thought-out announcements in poorly scripted videos or page long X posts should not be how organizations responsible for the health of people should function."
Houry, meanwhile, said in her resignation email that "for the good of the nation and the world, the science at CDC should never be censored or subject to political pauses or interpretations."
What People Are Saying
Daskalakis torched Kennedy over his decision to fire the members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and replace them with opponents to the current immunization schedule: "The recent term of reference for the COVID vaccine work group created by this ACIP puts people of dubious intent and more dubious scientific rigor in charge of recommending vaccine policy to a director hamstrung and sidelined by an authoritarian leader. 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."
Houry wrote in her resignation email: "I am committed to protecting the public's health, but the ongoing changes prevent me from continuing in my job as a leader of the agency."
What Happens Next
The Trump administration will likely tap someone else to replace Monarez as head of the top public health agency.
Update 8/27/25, 8:48 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and context.
Update 8/27/25, 10:03 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to reflect the White House's confirmation of Monarez's removal.
The Associated Press contributed reporting to this article.
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