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Susan Monarez has been forced out of her job as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just weeks after Senate confirmation, in the latest in a series of high-level shake-ups for the beleaguered agency.

News of her removal was first reported by The Washington Post and based on accounts from several officials within the Trump administration. After being asked to confirm by Ars Technica, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) referred to an X post made on its official account. In the statement, the HHS declared:

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 account did not offer any further details on the abrupt leadership change. Per The Washington Post, US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a well-known anti-vaccine crusader, had over several weeks repeatedly berated Monarez over her handling of the COVID-19 vaccines. He had asked her to reverse approval of the vaccines, but Monarez had refused to do so until after she’d consulted the CDC’s vaccine advisory boards. Kennedy reportedly then told her she had to resign, accusing her of not backing President Trump’s policies.

Monarez declined to do so. Instead, she reached out to Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who had earlier in the year been instrumental in Kennedy’s own Senate confirmation after getting key promises from him. Cassidy demurred to Kennedy’s requests, leading to a furious confrontation. In the aftermath of the argument, other administration officials told Monarez that she had to either resign or be dismissed.

Her attorneys, Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell, sent out a statement on social media that said that Monarez has neither resigned nor been given a formal notice of her firing 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.” Zaid later added to Ars Technica that as of 8:15 p.m. ET on August 27, the White House had still not issued an official termination letter.

Agency at Breaking Point

Monarez had only been confirmed in late July. In a 51–47 vote split along party lines, she was approved as the first CDC director to ever require Senate confirmation after a 2022 law mandated it. Kennedy himself had administered the oath of office on July 31, praising her “impeccable scientific credentials” and believing she would help restore credibility to the CDC.

Monarez also had a long and distinguished résumé. She has a PhD in microbiology and immunology and was deputy director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) in the Biden administration. She also previously 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. She was also briefly CDC director this year in an acting capacity before she stepped aside to allow Trump to formally nominate her.

Health experts had applauded her nomination. Jennifer Nuzzo of Brown University wrote that Monarez was a “loyal, hardworking civil servant who leads with evidence and pragmatism.” Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, added that she was an accomplished researcher and a strong manager.

But her time in the post was cut short by intense strife at the agency. The CDC has lost staff through layoffs and buyouts, while many of its programs have been cut or otherwise crippled. Kennedy has further inflamed matters by calling COVID-19 vaccines “the deadliest vaccine ever made” and branding the CDC “a cesspool of corruption.”

On August 8, tragedy also befell the CDC when a gunman radicalized by vaccine misinformation shot into the CDC campus. The shooter, who had made clear his opposition to vaccines by targeting the CDC and blaming vaccines for his own health problems, fired nearly 500 rounds, hitting six CDC buildings with some 200 rounds. One local police officer was killed, and terrified CDC workers scrambled for cover. The CDC later declared that the campus was safe.

Monarez’s reported ouster has only compounded the agency’s turmoil. Stat News has since confirmed three other high-profile resignations: Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; Deb Houry, CDC’s Chief Medical Officer; and Demetre Daskalakis, who had led the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

In his resignation letter, Daskalakis stated, “I am not able to serve in this role any longer because of the ongoing weaponization of public health.” Houry also wrote in her departure note that science “should never be censored or subject to political interpretations.”

Earlier that day, Politico reported the resignation of Jennifer Layden, who led the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology.

To many within and outside of the CDC, the past few days represent a nadir for the once-proud agency, which was widely seen as the standard-bearer for evidence-based public health. Instead, it is rife with resignations, political meddling, and a profound trust deficit when public health threats are mounting.