The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saw a spree of surprise resignations on Wednesday night after a battle between Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the agency’s new director.
The resignations came with warnings from officials of Kennedy that, “Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults.”
Susan Monarez was ousted by The Department of Health & Human Services, which oversees the CDC, on Wednesday. Soon afterwards, she hit back through her lawyers, claiming she had not been fired and had no intention of resigning, accusing Kennedy of “weaponizing public health for political gain.”
She had been sworn into the role by Kennedy himself a month ago after being nominated by Trump. She was formally its acting director.
Earlier, her lawyers said 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.” The White House later confirmed that she had been removed from her role.
“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 C.D.C.,” Kush Desai, a spokesman for President Trump, told The New York Times.
In another twist, Monarez’s legal team, Mark S. Zaid and Abbe Lowell, told the Daily Beast on Wednesday night that only the president can sack Monarez, and she believes she still remains in the role, despite the White House’s insistence.
“Our client was notified tonight by a White House staffer in the personnel office that she was fired,” the statement read. “As a presidential appointee, senate confirmed officer, only the president himself can fire her. For this reason, we reject the notification Dr. Monarez has received as legally deficient and she remains as CDC Director. We have notified the White House Counsel of our position.”
The inner turmoil has rocked the organization, with at least four top CDC leaders announcing their resignation shortly after Monarez’s apparent ouster. They include D.C.’s chief medical officer, Dr. Debra Houry; the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis; the director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Dr. Daniel Jernigan; and the director of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance and Technology, Dr. Jen Layden, according to The New York Times. They joined Monarez in critiquing their former boss.
Monarez’s legal team accused vaccine skeptic Kennedy of “putting millions of lives at risk,” with the other CDC officials citing issues with the organization’s “unscientific” policies and promotion of health “misinformation.”
“The recent term of reference for the COVID vaccine work group created by this ACIP puts people of dubious intent and more dubious scientific rigor in charge of recommending vaccine policy to a director hamstrung and sidelined by an authoritarian leader,” Daskalakis said. “Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults. Their base should be the people they serve not a political voting bloc.”
The administration is planning to pull the COVID vaccine from shelves in a matter of months, according to a Monday report by the Daily Beast
British cardiologist Dr. Aseem Malhotra, a close associate of RFK Jr., said many “influential” members of Donald Trump’s family share the health secretary’s consensus that vaccines are more dangerous than the virus.
Daskalakis posted his lengthy resignation letter on his X account, stating the decision had been difficult and he valued his work in “safeguarding” public health, but had to call out “perspectives” held by RFK Jr.
“I find that the views he and his staff have shared challenge my ability to continue in my current role at the agency and in the service of the health of the American people. Enough is enough,” Daskalakis said.
Daskalakis said the CDC’s new COVID vaccine work group, which recently appointed another vaccine skeptic, “puts people of dubious intent and more dubious scientific rigor in charge of recommending vaccine policy to a director hamstrung and sidelined by an authoritarian leader.”
My resignation letter from CDC. Dear Dr. Houry,I am writing to formally resign from my position as Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), effective August 28, 2025, close of business.…
— DrDemetre (@dr_demetre) August 27, 2025
He warned, “Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults. Their base should be the people they serve, not a political voting bloc.”
His impassioned letter stated that the CDC was being treated 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.” He continued, “The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people.”
Daskalakis added, “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.”
Houry’s resignation letter also criticized the organization’s move on vaccines, stated, “Recently, the overstating of risks [of vaccines] and the rise of misinformation have cost lives, as demonstrated by the highest number of US measles cases in 30 years and the violent attack on our agency.”
In its fiery statement earlier Wednesday, Monarez’s legal team, which also features Abbe Lowell, attacked the changes at the CDC under RFK Jr. Kennedy, claiming they had dismissed independent advisory committees, career experts, and seasoned scientists.
“Now, Secretary Kennedy and HHS have set their sights on weaponizing public health for political gain and putting millions of American lives at risk,” the statement read.
They said Monarez “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.”
Like Houry, Daskalakis also referenced the shooting at CDC headquarters in Atlanta earlier this month, where the gunman had spoken about how vaccines had “hurt” him.
Monarez had only been in her job for a week when Patrick Joseph White fired 180 shots into the building, before killing a police officer then taking his own life at the scene.
“The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning,” Daskalakis said, stating his grandfather lost his life standing up to “fascist forces” in Greece. “I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud.”
He added, “I am resigning because of the cowardice of a leader that cannot admit that HIS and his minions’ words over decades created an environment where violence like this can occur. I reject his and his colleagues’ thoughts and prayers, and advise they direct those to people that they have not actively harmed.”
His letter ended with the hope the HHS could “reverse its dangerous course” to dismantle public health as a practice and as an institution.
“If they continue the current path, they risk our personal well-being and the security of the United States.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the HHS, the CDC and the White House for comment.
The post CDC Bosses Quit With Doomsday Warning About ‘Deadly’ RFK Jr. appeared first on The Daily Beast.
