Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez abruptly left the agency on Wednesday, less than a month after being sworn in.
“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,” the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, posted on X.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “has full confidence in his team at [CDC] who will continue to be vigilant in protecting Americans against infectious diseases at home and abroad,” the post continued, without naming her replacement.
Monarez’s lawyers accused the Trump administration of targeting their client but did not say whether she was fired or resigned.
“When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted,” attorneys Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell said in a statement.
“This is not about one official,” they added. “It is about the systematic dismantling of public health institutions, the silencing of experts, and the dangerous politicization of science.
“The attack on Dr. Monarez is a warning to every American: our evidence-based systems are being undermined from within.”
Monarez, a federal government scientist, was tapped by President Trump to lead the public health agency in March after he withdrew his previous nomination of Dave Weldon.
She was confirmed as director of the CDC by the Senate on July 29 and sworn in by Kennedy on July 31.
Monarez reportedly objected to RFK’s June decision to remove all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a panel that advises the CDC on vaccine recommendations, according to the New York Times.
Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, previously withdrew CDC recommendations for COVID-19 shots for pregnant women and healthy children.
Monarez’s departure comes on the same day the HHS secretary announced changes to COVID-19 vaccine eligibility.
Under the new rules, people over age 65 will remain eligible to get the vaccines, but younger adults and children will need to establish they have an underlying condition such as asthma or obesity that puts them at higher risk of serious illness.
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