One day after the dismissal of director Susan Monarez, the American government finds itself in open conflict with scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called on the CDC to implement Donald Trump’s agenda. Yesterday, the White House announced that Susan Monarez was fired because she “refused to resign, despite informing the Health Secretary of her intention to do so.” Monarez was not “aligned with the president’s agenda titled ‘Make America Healthy Again,'” officials claim.
Read: USA: Who is Susan Monarez, whom Donald Trump removed from CDC leadership
Monarez, who didn’t even complete a month as CDC director, reacted immediately. Specifically, she denied that she was resigning and accused the secretary of trying to force her out so he could continue implementing policies “that endanger the lives of millions of Americans.”
CDC: Monarez speaks of illegal dismissal
Monarez’s lawyers rejected the White House announcement, stating that her dismissal was illegal. “As a presidential appointee, as an official whose appointment was confirmed by the Senate, only the president himself can fire her,” they wrote on X.
In another statement, they emphasized that Monarez did not resign but was targeted because she refused to support “anti-scientific directives” and fire health experts. The secretary, they added, attempted to remove the CDC director when she refused “to rubber-stamp anti-scientific and dangerous guidelines” and “to fire public health experts.”
“The agency faces problems”
Today, Robert Kennedy Jr. refused to comment on the details of Monarez’s departure and that of four other top agency officials, saying these were personnel matters.
“The agency faces problems and we need to fix them, and we are fixing them. And perhaps some people should no longer be working there,” Kennedy said on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” show.
“We need strong leadership that will take action and be able to implement President Trump’s broader ambitions for this agency,” he added.
The dispute drew the attention of the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Bill Cassidy, who said the committee should take action.
“These high-profile departures will require oversight from the HELP Committee,” Cassidy said in a post on X late Wednesday. Cassidy’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment about what actions the Committee plans to take.
Resignation of top officials
Meanwhile, CDC’s chief medical director, Debra Houry, and the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), Dimitris Daskalakis, also announced their resignations.
“Enough is enough,” was the comment from Dimitris Daskalakis, who announced his resignation via X with an extensive text in which he denounced pressure from the new American government to draft “policies and documents that do not reflect scientific reality.”
The news of Monarez’s dismissal, first reported by the Washington Post, comes against the backdrop of dramatic changes in US vaccination policy under decisions by Robert Kennedy Jr. Meanwhile, American media report that other officials have also announced their resignations.
Changes in vaccination policies
The upheaval comes as Kennedy makes sweeping changes to vaccination policies since taking office this year, including firing members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee and replacing them with fellow anti-vaccine activists and other selected advisors.
Yesterday, US health regulatory authorities restricted approval for updated Covid-19 vaccines. Kennedy had previously withdrawn federal recommendations for Covid vaccines for pregnant women and healthy children.
Cassidy, a Republican doctor from Louisiana, had expressed reservations about Kennedy’s anti-vaccine views before paving the way for him to become the country’s top health official.
