The CDC director has been banished for a vaccine policy conflict with RFK Jr.
CDC Director Susan Monales was expelled after a different vaccine policy with HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The termination of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monares and the sudden departure of other CDC leaders has caused confusion on the country’s finest public health agencies.
The White House fired Monares on Wednesday, August 27th. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The leadership shakeup said Richard Besser, CDC director for President George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Besser revealed that Monales told him that she was targeted after he refused to fire the senior CDC leader and rubber stamp recommendations by Kennedy’s Improved Vaccine Advisory Board.
The famous departure “needs require surveillance,” Bill Cassidy, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said in a post in X on Wednesday. Sen. Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, delivered one of the key votes for Kennedy to confirm Kennedy as health secretary earlier this year.
On Thursday, Cassidy called for the Federal Vaccine Advisory Committee to postpone the Sept. 18 meeting to allow a review of “serious allegations” about the panel.
Meanwhile, Kennedy is first faced with questions from another Senate committee. He is scheduled to appear before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday, September 4th.
Monares refused two things before being fired.
Monares, a federal scientist, was confirmed by the Senate on July 29 to lead the CDC after President Donald Trump nominated earlier this year. She was sworn by Kennedy on July 31st.
She took the position after vaccine skeptic Kennedy fired all 17 members of the major vaccine advisory board on June 9th. A few days later, Kennedy appointed eight members to the Advisory Committee on Vaccination Practices, including several vaccine skeptics.
Shortly after taking office, Monares learned that her tenure would be short-lived.
Monales’ lawyer said she was targeted for her refusal to fire scientific and reckless instructions and dedicated public health experts.
The White House notified her on August 27 that she had been fired, but Monares’ lawyers said the White House had not followed protocols. Her lawyer said only President Trump could fire a Senate-approved officer who was appointed president.
During an August 28 briefing, White House spokesman Caroline Leavitt said it was Trump who fired Monales after Kennedy refused to resign when he asked him to resign.
“The president has the authority to fire people who are not in line with his mission,” Leavitt said.
On a call on Wednesday, August 27th, Monares told Besser that there are two lines she cannot cross. She did nothing illegal and doesn’t go against science. So she knew that if she refused her request to fire Kennedy’s senior leader and automatically signed off to the recommendations of the Kennedy-appointed vaccine panel, she would be banished.
“She wasn’t going to do either of these things,” said Besser, CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a health-focused nonprofit.
Other important leaders resign from CDC
Other major CDC officials also announced their resignation on August 27th.
Demetre Daskalakis, the best official at an agency overseeing vaccinations and respiratory illnesses, explained his resignation in a letter posted to X.
He said it would not be part of the “environment that treats the CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that are designed to not reflect scientific reality and to hurt people’s health rather than improve them.”
He said the recent CDC has changed to an adult and child vaccination schedule, “threatening the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people.”
He also said he and his staff have never had the opportunity to briefly explain Kennedy about major public health challenges such as measles, avian flu and respiratory virus season.
“I don’t know who (Kennedy) is listening to, but that certainly isn’t to us,” Daskarakis wrote in his resignation letter. “External organizations that are ignored and conflicting are apparently sources used by HHS, rather than the gold standard science of the CDC and other highly reputed sources.”
CDC Chief Medical Officer Debra Ahai and National Emerging and Zoonotic Disease Director Daniel Jarnigan have also announced their resignation.
Besser said the leading leader who resigned was a “critical part of brain trust” that protected Americans and the health of the world. Their departure “we’re in a much worse shape than we were a day ago,” Besser said.
What’s next for the CDC and Kennedy?
Kennedy has long said he is too close to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, which is overseen by federal health agencies.
“There’s a problem with the CDC,” he said in an interview with Fox & Friends on August 28th.
During the interview, Kennedy criticized the agency’s website listing vaccines among the 10 biggest advances in medicine. He said, “It’s deep and deep embedded, I’d say it’s offensive to the agency.”
State health departments and groups of physicians, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and American Obstetricians, announced in May that they had criticized Kennedy and announced their intention to recommend the Covid-19 vaccine for pregnant and healthy children.
In July, the pediatrics group released its own guidance on childhood vaccinations, including Covid-19 vaccinations.
The CDC has traditionally acted as a “quarterback” for the country’s public health system, Besser said it has made important recommendations based on medical evidence. However, given the controversy over vaccine recommendations and career scientists withdrawal, Besser said other health groups may need to play a greater role in advising healthcare professionals and patients.
“We’re going to see other agencies fill the void,” Besser said.
