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This action prompted other top CDC officials to resign in protest, while Kennedy hires a replacement who has no medical background.
By G. A. McNeeley
September 3, 2025 (Washington D.C.) -- The Trump Administration is facing bipartisan pushback over the firing of Susan Monarez, the Director of The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which prompted dozens of staff members to walk out in protest on Thursday, August 28, according to The Guardian.
Hundreds of employees and supporters lined the sidewalks outside of the agency’s Atlanta headquarters for a “clap out” rally to honor the senior leaders who resigned in protest of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine attacks on the agency and public health at large, according to MSNBC.
The White House quickly named Jim O’Neill, a senior HHS official, as the new leader of The CDC, after Kennedy pushed Monarez out of the department, according to The Hill. It’s unclear how long O’Neill might remain as the interim CDC director, or whether he’s a candidate for the permanent position.
9 former CDC directors say firing Monarez and others imperils public health
On Monday, September 1, nine former CDC directors who have worked for both Democratic and Republican presidents in every administration since the 1970s blasted the action in an editorial published by the New York Times, according to The Hill.
“When Secretary Kennedy administered the oath of office to Dr. Monarez on July 31, he called her ‘a public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials.’ But when she refused weeks later to rubber-stamp his dangerous and unfounded vaccine recommendations or heed his demand to fire senior C.D.C. staff members, he decided she was expendable,” they wrote in the piece.
The former CDC directors praised Monarez for standing up, adding, “The loss of Dr. Monarez and other top leaders will make it far more difficult for C.D.C. to do what it has done for about 80 years, to work around the clock to protect Americans from threats to their lives and health.”
What Is Happening With The Top CDC Officials?
The White House said Monarez, who was confirmed as Director of The CDC about a month ago, was fired because she was “not aligned with the president’s agenda,” but she refuses to depart because her lawyers argue that, as a Senate-confirmed appointee, only President Donald Trump himself can remove her, according to The Guardian.
On Wednesday, August 27, Monarez’s lawyers said in a post on X, that when she “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.”
“Dr. Monarez has neither resigned nor received notification from the White House that she has been fired, and as a person of integrity and devoted to science, she will not resign,” they added.
This coincided with the resignations of four top CDC officials; Dr. Debra Houry, deputy director; Dr. Daniel Jernigan, head of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, head of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; and Dr. Jennifer Layden, director of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology, according to NPR.
In an email sent to The Associated Press, Houry lamented the crippling effects on the agency from planned budget cuts, reorganization and firings.
"I am committed to protecting the public's health, but the ongoing changes prevent me from continuing in my job as a leader of the agency," Houry said, according to NPR. "For the good of the nation and the world, the science at CDC should never be censored or subject to political pauses or interpretations."
Daskalakis even accused the administration of using the agency to “generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health,” according to The Guardian.
They resigned on Wednesday, August 27, after The HHS announced that Kennedy had fired Monarez, who had been in her post for less than a month, according to MSNBC.
What Have United States Senators Been Saying?
U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) said, “She’s been on the job for only three weeks and I am very concerned and alarmed by this removal,” according to The Guardian. Collins added that there was “no basis” to remove Monarez.
U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican who chairs the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, said an upcoming meeting of The HHS committee that advises on vaccine use should be postponed.
“If the meeting proceeds, any recommendations made should be rejected as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership,” Cassidy said, according to The Guardian. He added that “serious allegations” have been made about the lack of scientific process in vaccine recommendations.
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent in Vermont, said that people of all political persuasions should be alarmed by the attempt to restrict access to vaccines, which he called “one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.”
“We are witnessing a full-blown war on science, on public health, and on truth itself,” Sanders said, according to The Guardian. “In just six months, Secretary Kennedy has dismantled the vaccine review process, narrowed access to life-saving Covid vaccines and filled scientific advisory boards with conspiracy theorists and ideologues.”
What Has The White House Press Secretary Been Saying?
On Thursday, August 28, Karoline Leavitt, The White House Press Secretary, criticized Daskalakis for using the term “pregnant people” in his resignation letter.
“I understand there were a few other individuals who resigned after the firing of Ms Monarez,” Levitt said, according to The Guardian. “One of those individuals wrote in his departure statement that he identifies pregnant women as pregnant people, so that’s not someone we want in this administration anyway.”
Daskalakis responded to Leavitt’s remarks during a CNN interview. “I find it outrageous that this administration is trying to erase transgender people,” he said, according to The Guardian.
“I very specifically used the term pregnant people, and very specifically added my pronouns at the end of my resignation letter to make the point that I am defying this terrible strategy at trying to erase people and not allowing them to express their identities,” Daskalakis added.
Who Is The Interim CDC Director?
O’Neill, a longtime Silicon Valley investor, has been a top Kennedy deputy as The Trump Administration has sought to enact its “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) agenda, while slashing staff and funding across health agencies, according to The Hill.
Kennedy and The White House have said that The CDC needs to align with the administration’s MAHA priorities, and shift away from a focus on vaccines.
On Friday, August 29, O’Neill, who doesn’t come from a medical background, called The CDC the “beating heart of public health in America,” in a post on X.
“During the previous administration, CDC lost public trust by manipulating health data to support a political narrative. The Trump administration is rebuilding trust and refocusing CDC on its core mission of keeping America safe from infectious disease,” O’Neill added.
Accountable US, said on Friday, August 29, that O’Neill’s deep ties to Peter Thiel (one of Trump’s donors) and numerous medical companies presented too many areas of conflict for him to be acting CDC director, according to The Hill.
“If made acting Director of the Trump CDC, Jim O’Neill would be in a prime position to ensure favorable outcomes for several medical industry startups he’s been financially linked to that have direct business before HHS and the CDC,” Accountable US Executive Director Tony Carrk said in a statement.
“How can American patients be sure that proper vetting of these companies would take place on O’Neill’s watch and that public health will be a higher priority over the profits of his former clients?” Carrk continued. “They can’t.”
Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/29/trump-susan-monarez-cdc-firing-reaction
https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/shows/top-stories/blog/rcna227858
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5480206-former-cdc-leaders-oppose-kennedy-changes/
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5480206-former-cdc-leaders-oppose-kennedy-changes/
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5478188-who-is-jim-oneill-trumps-new-cdc-director/
https://x.com/MarkSZaidEsq/status/1960842941293060446
https://www.npr.org/2025/08/27/g-s1-85911/cdc-director-susan-monarez-ousted-leaders-resign
https://x.com/HHS_Jim/status/1961530146151698701
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