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Susan Monarez has been removed from her post as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) weeks after being confirmed by the Senate. It is the latest in a series of high-level departures at the beleaguered public health agency.

The Washington Post was the first to report her removal, based on multiple officials within the Trump administration. When Ars Technica inquired with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the department referred us to a post on its official X account:

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 post did not give any further explanation or context for the change in leadership. The Washington Post reports that US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (son of the late Robert F. Kennedy), a well-known anti-vaccine crusader, had repeatedly pressured Monarez over her COVID-19 vaccine approvals. Kennedy had asked her to reverse the vaccines’ approval, but Monarez would not commit to such a reversal without first consulting the CDC vaccine advisory committees. Kennedy then asked her to resign, in part for failing to advance President Trump’s agenda.

Monarez would not resign. Instead, she reached out to Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La. ), who had been critical in getting Kennedy confirmed by the Senate this year, after extracting some commitments from him. Cassidy pushed back on Kennedy’s demands, leading to a screaming match. Afterward, administration officials called Monarez and said she could either resign or be fired.

In a statement to social media, lawyers Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell said that Monarez has not resigned and has yet to be officially notified of her firing from the White House. “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.” Lowell later confirmed to Ars Technica that as of 8:15 p.m. ET on August 27, Monarez had still not received an official notification of her firing.

CDC at a Breaking Point

Monarez’s confirmation in late July had been a victory for many. She was confirmed with a 51–47 party-line vote and became the first CDC director in history to be subject to Senate confirmation after a 2022 law put the requirement in place. Kennedy himself swore Monarez in on July 31, saying she has “unimpeachable scientific credentials” and that he was “confident” she could restore the CDC’s “credibility.”

Her credentials were extensive. Monarez has a PhD in microbiology and immunology and served as the deputy director for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) in the Biden administration. She was previously at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), as well as with the Department of Homeland Security, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the National Security Council. She briefly led the CDC as acting director earlier this year, but she stepped down when Trump formally nominated her for the post.

Experts had lauded her appointment. Jennifer Nuzzo of Brown University called Monarez a “loyal, hardworking civil servant who leads with evidence and pragmatism.” Georges Benjamin, head of the American Public Health Association, was a strong researcher and a “manager you can count on.”

Her brief tenure, however, ended in a crisis. The CDC is shedding hundreds of employees in layoffs and buyouts, and many of its programs have been cut or curtailed. Kennedy himself has heightened tensions, calling COVID-19 vaccines “the deadliest vaccine ever made” and accusing the CDC of being “a cesspool of corruption.”

On August 8, tragedy struck when a man radicalized by vaccine misinformation shot up the CDC campus. A total of nearly 500 rounds were fired, with around 200 of them striking six different buildings on the CDC campus. One local police officer was killed in the shooting, and several staff members scrambled for cover. The shooter had his own health problems and believed vaccines were the cause, and had specifically targeted the CDC.

Monarez’s reported firing has only deepened the agency’s crisis. Stat News reported that three high-ranking officials also stepped down. Daniel Jernigan, the director of the National Center for Emerging Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; Deb Houry, the CDC’s Chief Medical Officer; and Demetre Daskalakis, who was in charge of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

In his departure message, Daskalakis wrote that he was “not able to serve in this role any longer because of the ongoing weaponization of public health.” Houry’s note stated that science should “never be censored or subject to political interpretations.”

Politico had reported earlier in the day that Jennifer Layden, who led the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology, also resigned.

Many inside and outside the CDC see the current state of affairs as a low point for an agency that was once the gold standard for evidence-based public health. The crisis is coming as the country faces a host of public health challenges, and at a time when the agency is facing mounting resignations, politicization, and a public trust crisis.