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Susan Monarez was removed from her position as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) weeks after being confirmed by the Senate. It’s the latest in a series of high-profile departures and scandals at the beleaguered public health agency.

The first news of the development came from The Washington Post, which reported that several Trump administration officials had confirmed Monarez’s ouster. Ars Technica reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which then referred to a post on the department’s official X account. The department confirmed that Monarez was out, reading:

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.”

But the post offered no reason for the change. According to the Post, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeatedly badgered Monarez over her refusal to rescind approvals of COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy is a known anti-vaccine activist, and Monarez had held her ground, refusing to take action without the CDC advisory committees on vaccines meeting and giving their input. Kennedy then asked her to resign for failing to back Trump.

Monarez did not resign. She informed Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) of Kennedy’s actions. Cassidy had been a key figure in Kennedy’s own Senate confirmation this year, helping push it through in exchange for written assurances from Kennedy. Cassidy confronted Kennedy over the situation with Monarez, according to sources, which led to a shouting match between them. In the aftermath, Monarez was told by administration officials that if she did not resign, she would be fired.

Monarez’s attorneys, Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell, made a statement on social media that Monarez had not resigned, nor had she been officially informed of her dismissal by 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.” Zaid later told Ars Technica that as of 8:15 p.m. ET on August 27, Monarez had still not received official notification of any termination.

An Agency at Breaking Point

Monarez had just been confirmed in late July, which was seen at the time as a step forward. The Senate approved her in a 51–47 party-line vote. She was the first CDC director to ever be subject to Senate confirmation, as a law passed in 2022. Kennedy himself administered the oath to Monarez on July 31, in a public ceremony where he praised her “unimpeachable scientific credentials” and said that her confirmation “puts us on the path forward to restoring the CDC’s credibility.”

Monarez’s résumé was extensive and impressive. She has a PhD in microbiology and immunology, and until this year served as the deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) under the Biden administration. Other previous jobs included stints with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the Department of Homeland Security, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the National Security Council. Monarez also briefly served as acting CDC director earlier this year and stepped down from that position when Trump nominated her formally.

Public health experts had praised her appointment to the role of CDC director. Jennifer Nuzzo of Brown University called her “a loyal, hardworking civil servant who leads with evidence and pragmatism.” Georges Benjamin, who heads the American Public Health Association, said that she was a strong researcher with managerial experience.

But her short time at the helm of the CDC ended in crisis. The CDC has lost hundreds of workers through layoffs and buyouts in recent months, and many of its programs have been cut or otherwise crippled. Kennedy himself has made inflammatory remarks such as “the deadliest vaccine ever made” when speaking of COVID-19 vaccines and calling the CDC “a cesspool of corruption.”

On August 8, a gunman who had been radicalized by vaccine misinformation shot his way onto the CDC campus. Firefights on the campus left several buildings with bullet holes, as nearly 500 rounds were fired. Of those rounds, about 200 hit CDC buildings. One local police officer was killed, while several CDC workers were evacuated or hid in fear. The shooter, who had blamed vaccines for his own health conditions, had specifically targeted the CDC.

Amid the chaos from the reported firing of Monarez, more high-level resignations have hit the CDC. Stat News confirmed that Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; Deb Houry, the CDC’s Chief Medical Officer; and Demetre Daskalakis, who led the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, had all resigned.

In his parting message, Daskalakis wrote, “I am not able to serve in this role any longer because of the ongoing weaponization of public health.” Houry ended her message with a reminder that science “must never be censored or subject to political interpretations.”

On the same day, Politico reported that Jennifer Layden, who was the head of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology, had also resigned.

The turmoil surrounding the CDC this week has many seeing it as rock bottom for an agency that, not long ago, was the gold standard of public health advice. The agency is now grappling with a crisis of political influence, multiple resignations, and an apparent drop-off of trust from the American people at a time when public health crises have not abated.