Still, CDC Director Susan Monarez is refusing to leave.
By Catholics for Catholics
Susan Monarez, the Prevention Director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was fired by the Trump administration for not being aligned” with President Donald Trump’s agenda of “Making America Healthy Again.”
The Department of Health and Human Services announced on Wednesday afternoon that Monarez was no longer part of the agency, according to The Daily Wire.
“Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” HHS posted on X. “We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people. [Secretary Kennedy] has full confidence in his team at the [CDC] who will continue to be vigilant in protecting Americans against infectious diseases at home and abroad.”
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…
— HHS.gov (@HHSGov) August 27, 2025
The dismissal came after Monarez did not commit to cancelling approvals for certain COVID vaccines when pressed by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., The Washington Post reported. The outlet added that Monarez turned to Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Labor, and Pensions, for help while facing pressure from Kennedy.
White House spokesman Kush Desai said Monarez had been “terminated” because she was “not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again.”
Zaid said the White House had provided a “legally deficient” notification of Monarez’s removal from the CDC. “Our client was notified tonight by White House staff in the personnel office that she was fired. As a presidential appointee, senate confirmed (sic) officer, only the president himself can fire her,” he posted on X.
Abbe Lowell and I represent @CDCgov Director Susan Monarez. Contrary to govt statements, Dr. Monarez has neither resigned nor yet been fired. We have issued the following statement: pic.twitter.com/5OHbwMkVIQ
— Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) August 27, 2025
But attorneys for Monarez, who helmed the CDC for less than a month, stated that she would not leave, saying she had not been satisfactorily informed of her removal. Monarez also alleged that she was being “targeted” for refusing to follow a “political agenda.”
In response to the announcement from HHS, lawyer Mark Zaid said that Monarez had no intention of leaving the position. But Cassidy said on X that Monarez’s “high profile departure” will require “oversight” from his committee.
“When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda,” Zaid said. “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.”
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