Health and Human Services announced removal of CDC Director Susan Monarez after she refused Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s demand to resign or be fired. Monarez had been confirmed by the Senate on July 29. Attorneys for Monarez said she had not been notified of a termination and that she would not resign. A source said Monarez clashed with Kennedy over vaccines, and Kennedy demanded removal of top CDC leadership when she refused to resign. Monarez contacted Senator Bill Cassidy, who intervened. Following the apparent termination, three senior CDC officials submitted resignation letters and criticized HHS reliance on unvetted outside organizations.
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.
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.
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