CDC Director Ousted After Run-Ins With RFK Jr. as Top Agency Officials Quit
Melissa Majchrzak/AP photo
Center for Disease Control Director Susan Monarez refused to step down after Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called on her to resign or be fired.
On Wednesday night, HHS announced that Monarez, who was just confirmed as director by the Senate on July 29, has been removed as director. Attorneys for Monarez said that as of Wednesday evening, their client had not been notified of a termination. A source told The New York Times that Monarez has clashed with Kennedy over vaccines, which the secretary opposes.
The Times added:
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said Mr. Kennedy summoned Dr. Monarez to his office on Monday and demanded that she resign. When she refused, Mr. Kennedy demanded that she remove the agency’s top leadership by the end of the week.
Dr. Monarez then called Senator Bill Cassidy, the Republican chairman of the Senate health committee, who in turn called Mr. Kennedy, according to the official. Mr. Kennedy, furious, summoned Dr. Monarez to a second meeting on Tuesday and accused her of “being a leaker,” according to the official, and told her she would be fired.
In response to Monarez’s apparent termination, three top CDC officials submitted resignation letters. Those officials are: Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; Dr. Deb Houry, chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science at CDC; Dr. Dan Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases.
“I am not sure who the Secretary is listening to, but it is quite certainly not to us,” Daskalakis wrote. “Unvetted and conflicted outside organizations seem to be the sources HHS use over the gold standard science of CDC and other reputable sources.”
“Recently, the overstating of risks and the rise of misinformation have cost lives, as demonstrated by the highest number of U.S. measles cases in 30 years and the violent attack on our agency,” Houry said in her letter.
“I believe strongly in the mission of public health and the leadership that CDC has given for almost 80 years; however, given the current context in the Department, I feel it is best for me to offer my resignation,” Jernigan wrote.
