Deputy Health and Human Services Secretary Jim O’Neill is expected to be named acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a move that comes as hundreds of staffers walked out of CDC headquarters Tuesday in protest of leadership changes at the public health agency.
O’Neill, who currently serves as HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s No 2 at the Department of Health and Human Services, was selected by the White House to replace fired CDC Director Susan Monarez, according to multiple outlets.
A Trump administration official confirmed the move to The Post.
The Silicon Valley investor was previously CEO of the Thiel Foundation and co-founder of the founder of the Thiel Fellowship, projects funded by billionaire Trump donor Peter Thiel.
O’Neill also worked at HHS and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during the George W. Bush administration.
Monarez, who was sworn in as CDC director less than a month ago, was fired by the White House on Wednesday after she refused to resign.
A White House spokesman said Monarez was “not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again.”
Her removal, as well as the resignations of three top CDC officials, prompted hundreds of employees to stage a walkout at the agency’s Atlanta headquarters on Thursday.
“We planned to let the folks walk out of CDC and clap them out, but they were escorted out of CDC this morning, which is not cool,” an organizer of the protest said of the three resigning officials.
Former chief medical officer Deb Houry, former director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Demetre Daskalakis and former director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases Daniel Jernigan still appeared at the rally and were greeted by cheers from the crowd.
Daskalakis, who served as former President Joe Biden’s national monkeypox response coordinator, cited the “change in the COVID-19 recommendations for children and pregnant people, the firing of scientists from [a vaccine advisory panel] by X post and an op-ed rather than direct communication with these valuable experts, the announcement of new [vaccine advisory panel] members by X before onboarding and vetting have completed,” as reasons for his departure, in his resignation letter.
“My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud,” Daskalakis added.
Monarez’s lawyers have accused the Trump administration of targeting their client because she “refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts.”
The CDC and HHS did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
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