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In a move first reported by The Washington Post, Susan Monarez has been forced out of her post just weeks after the Senate confirmed her as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ars Technica confirmed with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that Monarez was no longer the CDC director and that the position had not been filled. When the outlet asked for an official statement, HHS directed them to a post on its official X account. The post 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 @CDCgov, who will continue to be vigilant in protecting Americans against infectious diseases at home and abroad.”

The statement offered no reason for the leadership change. According to The Washington Post, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has made a name for himself as an anti-vaccine activist, had repeatedly pressured Monarez over her handling of COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy asked her to rescind the CDC’s approval of the vaccines, but Monarez declined unless she was allowed to consult the CDC’s vaccine advisory committees first. Kennedy then reportedly told her to resign, citing her failure to follow President Trump’s agenda.

Monarez refused to resign. Instead, she reached out to Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) Kennedy’s staunchest defender on Capitol Hill, who had been key to his own Senate confirmation earlier this year after receiving written assurances from the health secretary. After Kennedy was called out by Cassidy based on those written assurances, Kennedy and Monarez met, and what was supposed to be a discussion turned into a shouting match. After that, administration officials told Monarez she would have to resign or be fired.

Monarez’s lawyers, Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell, released a statement via social media to Ars Technica and others. The statement noted that Monarez had not resigned and had not received official notice from the White House of her termination. “Her ouster came after she refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts,” the statement read. “She chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda.” Zaid also confirmed to Ars Technica that as of 8:15 p.m. ET on August 27, Monarez had still not received official word of termination.

A Troubled Public Health Agency at a Breaking Point

Monarez’s late July confirmation was considered a breakthrough. She was confirmed 51–47 in a strictly partisan vote and was the first CDC director to be subject to Senate confirmation, following a law passed in 2022. Kennedy himself administered the oath of office on July 31 and gave remarks in which he called her “a person of unimpeachable scientific credentials” whom he was “confident can help restore the CDC’s credibility.”

Monarez has a lengthy résumé. She has a PhD in microbiology and immunology and was previously deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) under the Biden administration. She also previously served at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), as well as at the Department of Homeland Security, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the National Security Council. She briefly served as acting CDC director earlier this year until her formal nomination by Trump, when she stepped aside.

Her reputation had earned praise from public health experts. Jennifer Nuzzo of Brown University told The New York Times that Monarez was a “loyal, hardworking civil servant who leads with evidence and pragmatism.” Georges Benjamin, the head of the American Public Health Association, described her as “a great researcher and also a very capable manager.”

But turmoil at the CDC continued. The agency has been laying off or buying out hundreds of staffers, and key programs have been cut or hobbled. Kennedy himself has further inflamed tensions with public health experts by declaring that COVID-19 vaccines were “the deadliest vaccine ever made” and by calling the CDC “a cesspool of corruption.”

On August 8, a gunman radicalized by vaccine misinformation targeted the CDC. He opened fire on the CDC campus, discharging a total of 485 rounds, with some 200 rounds hitting six different buildings on the campus. One local police officer was killed, and CDC staff were sent into a panic. The shooter had previously said that vaccines had made him sick and had cited this in his motivations for targeting the CDC.

Monarez’s reported firing further escalated the crisis at the agency. Stat News also reported that three other high-ranking officials had resigned: Daniel Jernigan, the director of the National Center for Emerging Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; Deb Houry, the CDC’s Chief Medical Officer; and Demetre Daskalakis, the head of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.