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Susan Monarez was recently ousted from her position as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only weeks after being confirmed by the Senate, the latest in a series of shake-ups at the beleaguered public health agency.

First reported by The Washington Post and based on multiple Trump administration officials, Ars Technica reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to confirm the news. HHS referred Ars Technica to a post on its official X account. The statement released on X said:

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 @CDCgo, who will continue to be vigilant in protecting Americans against infectious diseases at home and abroad.”

The post did not say why Monarez was no longer director of the CDC. The Washington Post reported that the U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a known anti-vaccine figure, had repeatedly pressured Monarez over her position on COVID-19 vaccines. He reportedly wanted her to rescind the approval of the vaccines, but she refused to do so before first consulting the CDC’s vaccine advisory committees. Kennedy then told her she had to resign over her “failure to support President Trump’s vaccine and pandemic response plans.”

Monarez did not resign, and instead, reached out to Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who helped secure Kennedy’s own Senate confirmation this year after extorting personal guarantees from him. Cassidy, in turn, confronted Kennedy over his demands, leading to a “heated exchange.” In the aftermath, Monarez was told by other administration officials that she either had to resign or be fired.

A statement released by Monarez’s lawyers, Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell, was shared on social media, saying that Monarez “has not resigned, nor has she been given any formal notice by the White House that she was fired.” “Her ouster came after she refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts,” the statement continued. “She chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda,” Zaid told Ars Technica that as of 8:15 p.m. ET on August 27, Monarez had still received no official notice of her termination.

A Failing Public Health Agency

Monarez’s July Senate confirmation was seen as a breakthrough. She was confirmed 51–47 on strict party lines and was the first CDC director in history to ever have to be confirmed by the Senate, after a 2022 law made it mandatory. Kennedy himself administered the oath of office to her on July 31, when he praised her “unimpeachable scientific credentials” and expressed hope that Monarez could restore the CDC’s public standing.

Her credentials were long and impressive. Monarez earned a PhD in microbiology and immunology, and most recently, she served as deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) for the Biden administration. She 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, the National Security Council, and she had briefly led the CDC as the acting director earlier in the year before stepping down when she was officially nominated.

Many in public health had expressed enthusiasm for her appointment. Jennifer Nuzzo of Brown University said that Monarez was “a loyal, hardworking civil servant who leads with evidence and pragmatism,” and Georges Benjamin, the head of the American Public Health Association, said that she was a “strong scientist and a very capable manager.”

But her tenure at the agency was to be cut short. The CDC has been struggling of late, losing hundreds of workers through layoffs and buyouts, and facing the cancellation of many of its programs or other internal cutbacks and obstacles. Kennedy has further riled staff by denouncing COVID-19 vaccines as “the deadliest vaccine ever made” and the CDC itself as “a cesspool of corruption.”

It was in this context that tragedy struck on August 8, when a man radicalized by vaccine misinformation drove to the CDC campus and opened fire with an assault-style rifle. Almost 500 shots were fired from the weapon, with about 200 striking six CDC buildings. One local police officer was killed, and other CDC staff had to scramble for cover. The shooter had posted online about his own health issues and blamed vaccines for them, and targeted the CDC explicitly.

Monarez’s reported firing only further exacerbated tensions at the agency. Stat News reported the resignations of three more high-profile officials in the wake of her ouster. Daniel Jernigan, 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, all stepped down on the day of Monarez’s firing. In a parting message, Daskalakis said, “I am not able to serve in this role any longer because of the ongoing weaponization of public health.” Houry’s parting message said, “Science should never be censored or subject to political interpretations.”

Politico had previously reported earlier the same day that Jennifer Layden, the director of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology, also stepped down from her role.

The latest series of shake-ups at the CDC will only further fan the agency’s internal crises. The agency, once represented a gold standard in evidence-based public health, has seen many resignations in recent months, faced significant political interference, and been associated with a broader public health crisis of trust at a time when public health challenges are still ramping up.