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The White House has said it has fired the head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, despite her refusal to step down.
Late on Wednesday evening in Washington, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said: “Since Susan Monarez refused to resign, despite informing HHS leadership of her intent to do so, the White House has terminated Monarez from her position with the CDC.”
Earlier on Wednesday, lawyers for Monarez said on X that “she will not resign”, adding that the White House had not notified her of the firing, even though the Department of Health and Human Services earlier said she was no longer head of the CDC.
Monarez’s lawyers hit back at the HHS department, saying health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and the Trump administration “have set their sights on weaponising public health for political gain”.
Three other CDC officials resigned on Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the matter. They included the CDC’s chief medical officer, Debra Houry, and Demetre Daskalakis, the head of its immunisation division, as well as Daniel Jernigan, a top infectious disease official.
“I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health,” Daskalakis said on X.
Monarez was confirmed as CDC director on July 29 and was lauded by Kennedy for “unimpeachable scientific credentials”. Her role as CDC director includes identifying health threats, ranging from diseases to poisonings. The agency is part of the HHS department.
The Trump administration’s attempt to oust Monarez mimics the US president’s war with Lisa Cook, the Fed governor President Donald Trump tried to remove earlier this week, alleging she had engaged in mortgage fraud.
Cook, who denies the allegations, has refused to leave her post and has vowed to sue the administration, claiming the president has no authority to dismiss her. The clash is likely to head to the Supreme Court.
Both Cook and Monarez are represented by lawyer Abbe Lowell, who has previously defended former president Joe Biden’s son Hunter and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
At her Senate confirmation hearing, Monarez repeatedly defended Kennedy. Asked if she had any disagreements with him, she said: “[He] is doing the important work of leading a complex agency. He is supporting preventing chronic diseases.”
The CDC plays an important role in overseeing vaccines, and Kennedy is sceptical about their benefits. The CDC’s website still recommends a Covid-19 vaccine “for most adults ages 18 and older”.
On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration authorised the latest Covid-19 shots for adults over the age of 65 and others “with at least one underlying condition” that puts them at higher risk.
Additional reporting by James Politi in Washington