CDC Given New Director After Week of Turmoil

Dozens of staffers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staged a walkout on Thursday, August 28, following the firing of the agency’s director, Dr. Susan Monarez.

In a statement posted on X on Wednesday, August 27, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that Monarez was no longer director of the CDC but gave no explanation for her dismissal.

Monarez, who was only appointed director on July 31, has contested her firing, however. In a statement posted on BlueSky on Thursday, her legal representative Mark Zaid said that she had “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.”

Nonetheless, the HHS has since appointed its deputy secretary, Jim O’Neill – who, unlike Monarez, does not have a scientific background – into the position.

The events have been criticized by public health officials, who have urged the current US administration to stop politicizing science.

CDC turmoil

According to Zaid, in her new role as CDC director, Monarez was asked to “rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts”. Monarez reportedly refused and “chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda.”

In his own response to Monarez’s dismissal, HHS Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told reporters on Friday, August 29, that “there's a lot of trouble at CDC, and it’s going to require getting rid of some people over the long term in order for us to change the institutional culture and bring back pride and self-esteem and make that agency the stellar agency it’s always been.”

Under Kennedy’s leadership, the HHS has reduced investment in vaccine research. On August 5, it announced the termination of 22 mRNA vaccine development contracts totaling nearly $500 million in investment. A week earlier, the agency notified the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices via email that it was “biased” and would no longer have any oversight on vaccine approval.

In light of these moves and Monarez’s firing, dozens of CDC staffers walked out of the agency’s building in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday. Three senior leaders – Dr. Debra Houry, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis and Dr. Daniel Jernigan – resigned the same day in protest, citing their difficulties with Kennedy’s management of the agency.

“This decision has not come easily,” Daskalakis wrote in a statement on X, “as I deeply value the work that the CDC does in safeguarding public health and am proud of my contributions to that critical mission. However, after much contemplation and reflection on recent developments and perspectives brought to light by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., I find that the views he and his staff have shared challenge my ability to continue in my current role at the agency and in the service of the health of the American people. Enough is enough.”

Further on in his statement, Daskalakis claimed that members of the CDC were instructed by the HHS to approve an unscientific vaccine recommendation process.

“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 wrote in his statement on X. 

“The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threatens the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people. The data analyses that supported this decision have never been shared with CDC despite my respectful requests to HHS and other leadership.”

“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.”

Expert reaction

Reaction to the turmoil at the CDC from scientific bodies has been largely critical of Kennedy’s leadership and any policies to undermine public health.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, August 27, following the dismissal of Monarez, the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America said it was “deeply disappointed by the sudden departure of the CDC Director so soon after her confirmation, at a time when the agency most needs stability and authority to carry out its vital mission of protecting the health and safety of all Americans.”

“The United States stands at a critical crossroads, where strong, trusted public health leadership is essential to restoring confidence through evidence-based practices and guidance. In an era marked by increasing assaults on science and public health, the CDC must be empowered to rise above politics and remain focused on its core purpose: safeguarding and improving the health of communities. While there may be differing perspectives on how best to achieve this goal, it is clear that qualified, steady leadership is indispensable to guiding the path forward.”

Technology Networks has reached out to the HHS for comment.