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The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Susan Monarez, has reportedly been forced out of her position, only weeks after being confirmed by the Senate.

The first report about her removal was by The Washington Post, which quoted multiple officials within the Trump administration. Ars Technica reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for a confirmation, which referred Ars to an X post by the HHS. The message stated:

Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people. @SecKennedy has full confidence in his team at @CDCgov, who will continue to be vigilant in protecting Americans against infectious diseases at home and abroad.”

The post did not give a reason for the change of leadership at the CDC. According to The Washington Post, Monarez was pressured repeatedly by US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (a well-known anti-vaccine advocate) over her approach to COVID-19 vaccines. He reportedly asked her to revoke approval for the vaccines, but Monarez refused to do this without first consulting the CDC’s advisory committees for vaccines. Kennedy then told her to resign, saying that she had not supported the policies of former US President Donald Trump.

Monarez declined to resign. She instead contacted Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) over the demand. He had previously played a crucial role in Kennedy’s own Senate confirmation earlier this year by getting assurances from Kennedy in advance. After Cassidy pushed back on Kennedy’s demands, a heated confrontation occurred. Administration officials then told Monarez that she must either resign or face being fired.

Monarez’s lawyers, Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell, later shared a statement on social media, saying that Monarez has not resigned and that as of 8:15 p.m. ET on August 27, she had not received official notice of termination from the White House. “Her ouster came after she refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts,” the statement said. “She chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda.”

Public Health Agency Faces Breaking Point

Monarez had been confirmed by the Senate only a few weeks ago, in late July. It was seen as a significant development at the time: She was confirmed in a vote of 51–47 on party lines. This made her the first director of the CDC subject to Senate confirmation, after a new law in 2022 mandated this step. Kennedy swore her in on July 31, saying in his remarks that she had “unimpeachable scientific credentials” and would help restore the CDC’s reputation.

Her CV is long and distinguished. Monarez holds a PhD in microbiology and immunology. She was the deputy director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) under the Biden administration. She had also worked at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the Department of Homeland Security, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the National Security Council, among others. She briefly also served as acting director of the CDC this year, before resigning and being formally nominated by Trump.

Monarez was welcomed by public health experts. Jennifer Nuzzo of Brown University called her a “loyal, hardworking civil servant who leads with evidence and pragmatism.” Georges Benjamin, the head of the American Public Health Association, said she was an “outstanding researcher with a strong management background.”

Yet her tenure was short and ended amid chaos within the agency. The CDC has laid off and bought out hundreds of staff members in recent months, while many of its programs have been cut or curtailed. Kennedy has personally contributed to a worsening morale by calling COVID-19 vaccines “the deadliest vaccine ever made” and labeling the CDC “a cesspool of corruption.”

The agency was also the target of a shooting on August 8. A gunman who was radicalized by vaccine misinformation entered the CDC campus and started shooting. He fired about 500 rounds, of which about 200 hit six different CDC buildings. He was shot and killed by a local police officer, but not before several CDC staff had to run for their lives. The shooter had blamed vaccines for his own health condition and deliberately targeted the CDC.

Kennedy’s reported removal of Monarez has caused further crisis in the CDC. Stat News separately reported resignations of three high-ranking officials: Daniel Jernigan, the director of the National Center for Emerging Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, the CDC’s Chief Medical Officer Deb Houry, and Demetre Daskalakis, who led the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

In his goodbye message, Daskalakis wrote, “I am not able to serve in this role any longer because of the ongoing weaponization of public health.” Houry’s letter of departure similarly called for science to “never be censored or subject to political interpretations.”

Earlier that day, Politico also reported that Jennifer Layden, the director of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology, had also resigned.

For many within and outside the CDC, these are the darkest days for an agency that was once the gold standard of evidence-based public health. The CDC has not just been plagued by mounting resignations, but by political interference and loss of public trust at a time when public health threats are increasing.