White House fires CDC director who says RFK Jr. is ‘weaponizing public health’

Susan Monarez was confirmed as the CDC’s director in July. Three top agency officials announced resignations as the Trump administration moved to oust her.

 

"The White House on Wednesday fired Susan Monarez as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after she refused to resign amid pressure to change vaccine policy, which sparked the resignation of other senior CDC officials and a showdown over whether she could be removed.

 

Hours after the Department of Health and Human Services announced early Wednesday evening that Monarez was no longer the director, her lawyers responded with a fiery statement saying she had not resigned or been fired. They accused HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of “weaponizing public health for political gain” and “putting millions of American lives at risk” by purging health officials from government.

 

“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,” the lawyers, Mark S. Zaid and Abbe Lowell, wrote in a statement. “For that reason, she has been targeted.”

 

(more)

 

Washington Post

https://archive.ph/XMHIh

 

 

If you read the entire article, you'll see that Monarez is maintaining she remains as the CDC's director, because only the president directly who nominated her for the job -- not the HHS, Kennedy or any of their lackeys, has the legal authority to remove her.

 

It's also clear that Monarez apparently still has the support of Sen. Bill Cassidy, the key Republican and chairman of the Senate health committee whose Republican-led committee that not long ago recommended that Monarez be confirmed as the new CDC director -- after she was nominated by none other than Trump. Monarez was the first U.S. CDC director in history that required formal Senate confirmation under a new classification for that job.

 

It's also clear from the full article that what led to the current fracas was Kennedy's continuing efforts to further curtail or even remove the availability of COVID vaccines in the U.S., something Monarez, according to the report, refused to do in the absence of any legitimate scientific/medical evidence justifying that kind of radical policy change.

 

 If Trump and Kennedy prevail on this, it will be just the latest in a long-series of attacks on and efforts to dismantle the U.S. public health agencies and expertise, replacing career non-partisan medical and public health experts with political hacks, and in the case of Kennedy's HHS domain, a growing motley assortment of appointees with little professional expertise relevant to their jobs, other than being anti-vaxers.

 

White House Says New C.D.C. Director Is Fired, but She Refuses to Leave

Susan Monarez was said to have refused to adopt Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s stance on vaccination policy. A lawyer for Dr. Monarez said the firing was “legally deficient.”

 

...

"Dr. Monarez, an infectious disease researcher, was sworn in just a month ago by Mr. Kennedy, but had clashed with the secretary over vaccine policy, people familiar with the events said. Four other high-profile C.D.C. officials quit en masse, apparently in frustration over vaccine policy and Mr. Kennedy’s leadership.

...

Her lawyers, Mr. Zaid and Abbe Lowell, had asserted in a statement earlier Wednesday that Dr. Monarez’s situation was symbolic of larger issues. “It is about the systematic dismantling of public health institutions, the silencing of experts, and the dangerous politicization of science,” they wrote. “The attack on Dr. Monarez is a warning to every American: Our evidence-based systems are being undermined from within.”

...

The four high-ranking agency officials who did resign are Dr. Debra Houry, the C.D.C.’s chief medical officer; Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who ran the center that issues vaccine recommendations; Dr. Daniel Jernigan, who oversaw the center that oversees vaccine safety; and Dr. Jennifer Layden, who led the office of public health data.

 

(more)

 

New York Times

https://archive.ph/DTAFa

 

 

Congrats to JFK to do what it takes to get rid of the vax-pushers.!

Goodbye and good riddance, next step for them being provided a well-paid job at one of the Big Pharma Vax divistions, whose interest they have served so well.  

Comments from the other top CDC officials who resigned amid Monarez' attempted ouster by anti-vaxer Kennedy, the HHS he heads, and the White House:

 

CDC's Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry:

 

"Houry's message to CDC staffers warned about the "rise of misinformation" about vaccines.... "For the good of the nation and the world, the science at CDC should never be censored or subject to political pauses or interpretations," wrote Houry, who worked at the CDC for over a decade. "Vaccines save lives—this is an indisputable, well-established, scientific fact."

 

Head of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Demetre Daskalakis:

 

"I am not able to serve in this role any longer because of the ongoing weaponizing of public health."  "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,"

 

And from Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, who serves on the Senate health committee:

 

"Reacted to Monarez's ouster by calling for Kennedy to be fired, calling him "a dangerous man who is determined to abuse his authority to act on truly terrifying conspiracy theories and disinformation."

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-director-susan-monarez-ousted/

 

 

18 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

Congrats to JFK to do what it takes to get rid of the vax-pushers.!

Goodbye and good riddance, next step for them being provided a well-paid job at one of the Big Pharma Vax divisions, whose interest they have served so well.  

Indeed!

 

The revolving door at the top of the tree. Perhaps the people of the USA, do not know/realise just what was going on. Well they will soon. Hopefully Kennedy will make a few more headlines as he tries to sort out the medical pimps, popes and complicit frauds in the CDC, NIH, FDA etc.

 

As for the WHO!!?? Trust WHO? Billy jab, jab Gates' crew.

The heart of the matter:

Monarez Fired From Top CDC Spot Following Friction Over New COVID-19 Vaccine Policy

"The CDC director—the first to be confirmed by the Senate under new legislation—has been ousted after less than a month following internal unrest regarding new, more restrictive approvals for updated COVID-19 vaccines, according to multiple sources.

...

Monarez’s dramatic exit comes after she was “pressed” for days by Kennedy, Trump administration lawyers and other officials over whether she would support rescinding certain approvals for COVID-19 vaccines, according to two individuals familiar with those conversations, the Post reported. Monarez declined to commit to supporting changing policy in this area before consulting with her advisers, according to these sources. [emphasis added]

...

Last week, over 750 current and former employees penned an open letter calling on Kennedy to tone down what they characterized as “dangerous and deceitful statements” that have fostered distrust against federal health workers, exposing them to physical harm." 

 

(more)

 

https://www.biospace.com/policy/monarez-fired-from-top-cdc-spot-following-friction-over-new-covid-19-vaccine-policy

 

 

2 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

"Last week, over 750 current and former employees penned an open letter calling on Kennedy to tone down what they characterized as “dangerous and deceitful statements” that have fostered distrust against federal health workers, exposing them to physical harm."

Get rid of the lot of them. The so-called richest country in the west, with the most unhealthy population. Not a coincidence that; IMO.

 

Money before health. What could go wrong?

44 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

Congrats to JFK to do what it takes to get rid of the vax-pushers.!

Goodbye and good riddance, next step for them being provided a well-paid job at one of the Big Pharma Vax divistions, whose interest they have served so well.  

Er - JFK was assassinated in 1963.

 

Why not let totally unqualified people run America's health, it could save the Medicare budget. Dead people don't burden the system.

 

 

Chaos in CDC as White House Removes Director After Vaccine Row with Kennedy

...

FDA restricts access to vaccines

"The CDC turmoil comes a day after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) restricted  COVID-19 vaccines to Americans aged over 64. Access to younger people is restricted to those with at least one underlying medical condition that exposes them to severe risk. Children may only receive the vaccine if they consult a medical provider.  

 

The FDA has also removed the emergency use listing for vaccines for children. This means that the BioNTech-Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, is only available for children over the age of five, according to Pfizer. 

 

The Novavax vaccine has been licensed for those aged 12 and over. Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, Spikevax, is now the only vaccine available to children from the age of six months – but only if they have underlying conditions."

 

(more)

 

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/physicians-urged-to-follow-science-after-us-fda-restricts-access-to-covid-vaccines/

 

 

Under the U.S. system for vaccines, the FDA has the authority to approve or not approve them, and set their labeling information. But in the wake of those actions such as occurred the other day with the updated versions of the COVID vaccines for 2025-2026, it's the CDC, and ultimately the CDC director, who decides the federal government's policy on what groups, ages and populations should get access to the vaccines or not, decisions that historically have also largely governed what health insurers will pay for under their policies.

 

The news reports above say the dispute between Kennedy and Monarez was over Kennedy's continuing attempts to curtail or even reject use of COVID vaccines. Although the above reports haven't gone into more detail on that as yet, I'm guessing Kennedy and the rest of the Trump administration were likely pressing Monarez to make those decisions as CDC director for the new 2025-2026 COVID vaccine versions just approved with restrictions by the FDA -- something she was refusing to do in the absence of any actual evidence to support those kinds of restrictions.

 

 

5 minutes ago, Stiddle Mump said:

Get rid of the lot of them. The so-called richest country in the west, with the most unhealthy population. Not a coincidence that; IMO.

 

Money before health. What could go wrong?

What is your BMI?

Just now, Lacessit said:

What is your BMI?

No idea.

 

Don't know or care, Don't go anywhere near white-coats. Not took any medicine since 2019. When a had a paracetamol for a sore head. Bathroom yoga, love of nature and a good diet, sees me through.

9 minutes ago, Stiddle Mump said:

Get rid of the lot of them. The so-called richest country in the west, with the most unhealthy population. Not a coincidence that; IMO.

 

Money before health. What could go wrong?

Ever been to Walmart?

1 minute ago, still kicking said:

Ever been to Walmart?

I've heard of the place. Been to COSCO. Or is it COSTCO? Long time past.

A post making an unsourced and unsubstantiated misinformation claim has been removed. Also an off-topic post and another making claims and content without a weblinked source.

 

Per the forum's rules:

 

5. You will not use ASEAN NOW to post any material which is knowingly or can be reasonably construed as false, inaccurate, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise in violation of any law. Topics or posts deemed to be scaremongering, deliberately misleading or which deliberately distort information will be removed. In factual areas such as news forums and current affairs topics member content that is claimed or portrayed as a fact should be supported by a link to a relevant reputable source.

 

2 hours ago, Stiddle Mump said:

Kennedy is gradually getting there. Nibbling at the edges with a scalpel, rather than bringing out the chain-saw.

 

When the CDC's fudging of the autism data emerges, there will be a few more leaving.

 

Absolutely. Rejoice, for their end is nigh.
 

 

46 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

What is your BMI?

 

What is yours?

 

Instead of leaving healthcare policy up to competent professionals we’ll have an unqualified, over privileged, ex heroin addict, steroid soaked, conspiracy minded sociopath on the same intellectual level of Joe Rogan running the show. You won’t be able to trust the food you eat, the medicines you take or get a hold of vaccines which will likely bring back some nasty viruses which have killed off entire ethnic populations in the past. 

 

[Mod's note: trolling meme graphic removed]

 

 

 

AND

 

RFK Jr. says people should not take medical advice from him

 

 

One of the more frightening things about this latest development -- if and when Monarez is formally removed as CDC director -- is something the mainstream news reports above have failed to even mention as yet.

 

Under federal law, in the absence of an actual serving CDC director, as was the case for months before Monarez was finally confirmed by the U.S. Senate, the CDC director's legal authorities regarding COVID and other vaccines revert to the HHS secretary, anti-vaxer Kennedy. (see the explanation and sourcing below)

 

So, at whatever point Monarez is legally out, Kennedy will have the full legal authority to do whatever he wants with the latest actions by the U.S. FDA regarding the newly updated version of COVID vaccines and all kinds of other public health decisions.  And that's a scary prospect!

 

The same situation existed for a period last spring when Monarez, who had been serving as acting CDC director, had to step down under federal policy from that post once she was formally nominated by Trump to become the "permanent" CDC director, until she was finally confirmed by the U.S. Senate months later.

 

That left a legal power vacuum for CDC vaccine policies that left Kennedy in charge, as he would be now again if Monarez is out:

 

Per the medical/public health blog Inside Medicine, recounting last spring when there was no CDC director:

A grand unified theory on what the hell is going on with the CDC's power vacuum.

Secretary Kennedy has the agency right as he wants it: Under his power and increasingly unable to function properly.

Jun 17, 2025

...

"Secretary Kennedy seems to realize the power of not having a CDC Director. Since only a CDC Director or the HHS Secretary can make vaccine policy official, he now runs the entire vaccine establishment of the United States. This is a crowning moment of the anti-vaccine movement. Kennedy seizes the opportunity.

...

It’s good to be the king.

 

"All to say, that given what happened in March and April, Secretary Kennedy seems to have figured out that not having a permanent CDC Director was a boon for him and his MAHA movement. In fact, not having even an acting CDC Director turns out to be tons of fun for him and his acolytes. The patients are running the asylum, and every day is Taco Tuesday."

 

https://insidemedicine.substack.com/p/a-grand-unified-theory-on-what-the

 

@insidemedicine

Jeremy Faust, MD, MS, is an emergency medicine physician and public health expert. Inside Medicine removes the barrier between doctors and patients, so that you know what's happening.

 

 

11 hours ago, Red Phoenix said:

Congrats to JFK to do what it takes to get rid of the vax-pushers.!

Goodbye and good riddance, next step for them being provided a well-paid job at one of the Big Pharma Vax divistions, whose interest they have served so well.  

Er - JFK was assassinated in 1963.

Why not let totally unqualified people run America's health, it could save the Medicare budget. Dead people don't burden the system.

 

 

Obvious typo,  it is RFK jr that was meant, the 26th United States secretary of health and human services since 2025.

 

 

5 hours ago, Red Phoenix said:

 

Er - JFK was assassinated in 1963.

Why not let totally unqualified people run America's health, it could save the Medicare budget. Dead people don't burden the system.

 

 

Obvious typo,  it is RFK jr that was meant, the 26th United States secretary of health and human services since 2025.

 

 

Equally obvious you are too lazy to proofread your post.

 

I doubt it's a typo, the letters "R" and "J" are 7 cm apart on my laptop keyboard.

 

Mod's note - personal comment on fellow forum member removed.

4 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Equally obvious you are too lazy to proofread your post.

 

I doubt it's a typo, the letters "R" and "J" are 7 cm apart on my laptop keyboard.

 

Only 5cm apart on mine.

Ah, the CDC and their ever changing definition of vaccines. When did scientists become so mealy mouthed?  'Protection'?  Fire the whole lot of them. 

A good report by the Associated Press on the latest developments on this topic:

 

CDC gets new acting director as leadership turmoil leaves agency reeling

August 29, 2025

 

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation’s top public health agency was left reeling Thursday as the White House worked to expel the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director and replace her with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ‘s current deputy.

 

The turmoil triggered rare bipartisan alarm as Kennedy tries to advance anti-vaccine policies that are contradicted by decades of scientific research. [emphasis added]

 

Two administration officials said Jim O’Neill, the second-in-command at the Department of Health and Human Services, would supplant Susan Monarez, a longtime government scientist. O’Neill, a former investment executive who also served at the federal health department under President George W. Bush, does not have a medical background. [emphasis added]

 

(more)

 

https://apnews.com/article/cdc-monarez-fired-trump-kennedy-vaccines-science-17fd8a19064e39906bc0125fd81e3525

 

According to the article, Monarez is still fighting her attempted dismissal by Kennedy and HHS, and the article says Trump, who supposedly is the only one with the actual authority to dismiss her since he appointed her, hasn't taken any direct action thus far.

 

 

An inflammatory post with an unsourced and unsubstantiated claim has been removed.

 

 

33 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

O’Neill, a former investment executive who also served at the federal health department under President George W. Bush, does not have a medical background. [emphasis added]

 

(more)

 

https://apnews.com/article/cdc-monarez-fired-trump-kennedy-vaccines-science-17fd8a19064e39906bc0125fd81e3525

 

This being the Trump Admin., there's little to no surprise here that the person nominated to be acting director of the CDC (which doesn't require Senate confirmation unlike the permanent position) would be a financial investor type who has no medical background and little to no public health background.

 

But he does have some history:

 

White House selects Kennedy deputy Jim O'Neill as acting CDC director

...

• The biotech investor, who is close to Trump ally Peter Thiel, has been working alongside Kennedy since last November and had been tasked with implementing the "Make America Healthy Again" agenda.

 

• He publicly criticized the CDC during the COVID pandemic and advocated for treatments not supported by scientific research, like ivermectin, though O'Neill told lawmakers ahead of his confirmation as Kennedy's No. 2 in June that he's "strongly pro-vaccine." [emphasis added]
•  

https://www.axios.com/2025/08/28/cdc-director-rfk-jr-jim-oneill

 

Of course, Kennedy himself told lawmakers prior to his confirmation that he wasn't "anti-vaccine", even though he had long headed the main anti-vax private organization in the U.S. before being nominated, and after becoming HHS secretary, has spent much of his time undercutting access to and development of vaccines, and continuing to regularly spread anti-vax misinformation.  So not sure just how much O'Neill's claim of being "strongly pro-vaccine" really means, given that being pro-vaccine and pro-science is what got Monarez fired after just a month in the job.

 

Then more about O'Neill per Wikipedia:

 

"He is a libertarian^[6] and an advocate of anti-aging medicine.

...

O'Neill said in a 2014 speech, "We should reform FDA so there is approving drugs after their sponsors have demonstrated safety – and let people start using them, at their own risk, but not much risk of safety....Let’s prove efficacy after they’ve been legalized." [emphasis added]

 

[meaning, he wanted the FDA to approve drugs without the manufacturers first having to prove that they actually worked for their intended purpose, i.e. had "efficacy."]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_O'Neill_(investor)

 

 

2 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

 

This being the Trump Admin., there's little to no surprise here that the person nominated to be acting director of the CDC (which doesn't require Senate confirmation unlike the permanent position) would be a financial investor type who has no medical background and little to no public health background.

 

But he does have some history:

 

White House selects Kennedy deputy Jim O'Neill as acting CDC director

...

• The biotech investor, who is close to Trump ally Peter Thiel, has been working alongside Kennedy since last November and had been tasked with implementing the "Make America Healthy Again" agenda.

 

• He publicly criticized the CDC during the COVID pandemic and advocated for treatments not supported by scientific research, like ivermectin, though O'Neill told lawmakers ahead of his confirmation as Kennedy's No. 2 in June that he's "strongly pro-vaccine." [emphasis added]

https://www.axios.com/2025/08/28/cdc-director-rfk-jr-jim-oneill

 

Of course, Kennedy himself told lawmakers prior to his confirmation that he wasn't "anti-vaccine", even though he had long headed the main anti-vax private organization in the U.S. before being nominated, and after becoming HHS secretary, has spent much of his time undercutting access to and development of vaccines, and continuing to regularly spread anti-vax misinformation.  So not sure just how much O'Neill's claim of being "strongly pro-vaccine" really means, given that being pro-vaccine and pro-science is what got Monarez fired after just a month in the job.

 

Get people in place that genuinely want to make US kids healthier.

 

He will have no shortage of advice.

 

"Dr. Daniel Pollock, who retired in 2021 after 37 years at the CDC, called Wednesday’s events “unprecedented.”

 

“What’s at stake here is not only the future of Americans’ health and well-being but the future of international health and well-being, because so much of what the CDC develops – be it laboratory tests, be it guidelines, be it advice about how to address a public health problem – all of that is used throughout the world, and what’s happening right now is, that’s being devastated,” he told CNN at Thursday’s event. “It will be very, very hard to restore what’s being wasted all through these absolutely unconscionable personnel moves.”

 

AND

Kennedy has never been briefed on measles, expert says

"Kennedy has never gotten a briefing on measles, Covid-19 or flu from CDC experts, Daskalakis said Thursday.

 

“No one from my center has ever briefed him on any of those topics,” he told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. “He’s getting information from somewhere, but that information is not coming from CDC experts, who really are the world’s experts in this area. … He’s not taken us up on several offers to brief him.”

 

https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/28/health/cdc-director-rfk

 

 

 

20 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Monarez, according to the report, refused to do in the absence of any legitimate scientific/medical evidence justifying that kind of radical policy change.

 

 

 

She needs to speak to Red Phoenix and/or Stiddle Mump.......give her head a wobble, and have all these vaccines withdrawn

 

 

 

4 hours ago, flaming dragon said:

Ah, the CDC and their ever changing definition of vaccines. When did scientists become so mealy mouthed?  'Protection'?  Fire the whole lot of them. 

 

 

That has to be one of the dumbest posts I've seen on AN for about eight years.....and that is going some.