Turmoil at CDC Roils the Agency and Official Washington for Second Day

Developments around the dismissal of Susan Monarez, Ph.D., as Director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC), including the announcement today by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., of her replacement, continued to roil that agency for the second day in a row, on Thursday, August 28. On Wednesday, Aug. 27, the agency was engulfed in drama when Secretary Kennedy attempted to fire Dr. Monarez, but she insisted that he did not have the authority to fire her, and demanded that President Donald Trump explicitly do so. The White House on Wednesday evening declared her fired, but Monarez insisted in statements and through her lawyers, that her firing was illegal. In the sake of Secretary Kennedy’s announcement, four very senior CDC leaders, all of them highly respected clinicians and public health leaders, resigned and issued statements excoriating Secretary Kennedy and the White House.

Following the White House’s actions, Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell, attorneys representing Monarez, issued a statement on Wednesday evening that included this statement: “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,” the lawyers, Mark S. Zaid and Abbe Lowell, wrote in a statement. “For that reason, she has been targeted. First it was independent advisory committees and career experts. Then it was the dismissal of seasoned scientists. Now, Secretary Kennedy and HHS have set their sights on weaponizing public health for political gain and putting millions of American lives at risk.”

Meanwhile, on Thursday evening, the Washington Post’s Dan Diamond reported that “The White House on Thursday selected a top deputy of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to serve as acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after a clash over vaccine policy ended in the departure of several agency leaders, according to two people familiar with the decision. The selection of Jim O’Neill, currently the deputy secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, as interim leader of the CDC, potentially clears a path for Kennedy to continue his efforts to overhaul federal vaccine policy after the agency’s previous leader, Susan Monarez, balked at his requests. As deputy secretary, O’Neill helps oversee HHS’s sprawling operations and serves as a key aide to Kennedy. He will continue working as Kennedy’s deputy while helming the CDC, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss personnel decisions,” he noted.

During his confirmation hearing to be HHS Deputy Secretary, O’Neill, a Silicon Valley investor and entrepreneur linked to industrialist Peter Thiel and with no clinical or public health background, insisted to senators that "I'm very much in favor of vaccines. I think vaccines are one of the greatest public health interventions in human history. They save millions of lives. They will continue to save millions of lives.”

As ABC News’s Mary Bruce, Cheyenne Haslett, and Michelle Stoddart reported on Thursday afternoon, O’Neill had been challenged by Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, wrote on Thursday, during that confirmation hearing, “Cassidy — not satisfied with O'Neill's response — pushed him further, asking how they could keep kids from dying of measles in Texas without requiring vaccines for school, as an example. ‘I support CDC recommendations for vaccines. I think that's a central role the CDC has. It's mandated law. It's also an important principle. They have responsibility to recommend good, safe vaccines to everyone,’ O'Neill said.”

With regard to the developments Wednesday at the CDC, Sen. Cassidy told The Hill’s Alexander Bolton on Thursday morning that the situation at the agency “will require oversight.”

As a team of journalists from The Guardian, led by George Chidi, wrote on Thursday afternoon, “Senior CDC vaccine research and public health leaders who resigned in protest told hundreds of supporters across the street from campus on Thursday that the Trump administration needs to “get politics out of public health”. The agency is reeling from the firing of the CDC chief, Susan Monarez, but Monarez, who was confirmed as CDC chief just a month ago, has refused to be removed. Four senior leaders – Debra Houry, Demetre Daskalakis, Daniel Jernigan and Jennifer Layden – then resigned in protest, citing the alleged spread of misinformation under the Trump administration and political interference in their work. The staffers cheered and applauded them at the event on Thursday.”

The full titles of the four senior CDC leaders who resigned on Wednesday were: Debra Houry, M.D., M.P.H., Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Director for Program and Science; Demetre Daskalakis, M.D., M.P.H., Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD); Daniel Jernigan, M.D., M.P.H., Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; and Jennifer Layden, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Office of Public Health data, Science, Technology.

Drs. Houry, Daskalakis, and Jernigan all appeared at a gathering of supporters of public health, across the street from the CDC’s Atlanta headquarters, on Thursday afternoon. At that gathering, Dr. Daskalakis told the assembled throng that “You are the people that protect America, and America needs to see that you are the people that protect America, and we are going to be your loudest advocates.” He was known for years for his leadership in HIV prevention and vaccination programs and the Biden administration’s response to the mpox outbreak.

The three, plus Dr. Jennifer Layden, who led the office of public health data, resigned together on Thursday to make a statement about the damage the administration had done to public vaccine research, and in protest of the administration’s response to vaccine disinformation, they said.

On Wednesday evening, Dr. Daskalakis had issued an extensive statement. One portion of it read thus: “I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health.  The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people.   The data analyses that supported this decision have never been shared with CDC despite my respectful requests to HHS and other leadership.  This lack of meaningful engagement was further compounded by a “frequently asked questions” document written to support the Secretary’s directive that was circulated by HHS without input from CDC subject matter experts and that cited studies that did not support the conclusions that were attributed to these authors.  Having worked in local and national public health for years, I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people.”

Further, he wrote on Wednesday, “It is untenable to serve in an organization that is not afforded the opportunity to discuss decisions of scientific and public health importance released under the moniker of CDC.  The lack of communication by HHS and other CDC political leadership that culminates in social media posts announcing major policy changes without prior notice demonstrate a disregard of normal communication channels and common sense.  Having to retrofit analyses and policy actions to match inadequately thought-out announcements in poorly scripted videos or page long X posts should not be how organizations responsible for the health of people should function.”

Dr. Daskalakis spoke at length about the situation to Jen Psaki on her MSNBC program “The Briefing With Jen Psaki” on Thursday evening, noting that “I’m a doctor. I see patients. I’m a clinician. And when I finished medical school, we raised our hand and took the Hippocratic oath, which is, first, do no harm. I’m seeing CDC being turned into a weapon, with scientific data being contaminated more and more with ideology. And if science isn’t able to shine through the ideology, we’ll see a lot of trouble in what my health is like, my kids’ health is like, and frankly, national security. I could no longer be a part of something that could potentially hurt children.”

Further, he said, “Recently, Secretary Kennedy put out a directive that changed the child immunization schedule, as well as the adult immunization schedule for COVID. And I’ll never forget how I learned about it, which was on Twitter. I was sitting in a senior leader meeting at CDC, and my phone blew up. And people were saying, we didn’t know you changed the vaccine schedule. All we had was the video. We eventually got the paper. And my job as a scientist is to say, can we see the data? And that data was never provided.”

Also on Thursday evening, Dr. Layden told Chris Hayes, host of “All In With Chris Hayes” on MSNBC, that, “Unfortunately, the last six months have been tough. I’ve lost 30-35 FTEs, and I cannot execute on current contracts. Because I can no longer be effective in my job, I felt I should pursue other opportunities.” And, she added that, “In public health, we rely on data. That’s not just for pandemics like COVID. For example, foodborne outbreaks. Because of the investments we’ve made, we’re doing that better and faster, and that’s saving lives. Our responsibility to share that information in a transparent way that makes sense and is meaningful to the public and clinicians and researchers. We are at risk to be able to continue to do that.”

Associations speak out against HHS’s actions

The leaders of national healthcare professional and public health associations were quick to react to the series of developments at the CDC and HHS. On Thursday, Georges C. Benjamin, M.D., executive director at the Washington, D.C.-based American Public Health Association, released a lengthy statement that began thus: “The abrupt attempt to oust Dr. Susan Monarez, the CDC’s director just weeks after her Senate confirmation, is yet another glaring sign of Secretary Kennedy’s failed leadership and reckless mismanagement. His tenure has been marked by chaos, disorganization, and a blatant disregard for science and evidence-based public health. Pushing Dr. Monarez out underscores his administrative incompetence and his disdain for the expertise that the public and our public health agencies rely on. RFK Jr. must be removed from his position,” Dr. Benjamin insisted. “Since taking office, his actions have sown confusion, demoralized staff and jeopardized the very foundation of our nation’s health security. Most critically, these missteps threaten lives—creating risks that could have been prevented if competent leadership were in place.  Dr. Monarez, who had little time to settle into her vital role, became collateral damage in Secretary Kennedy’s misguided efforts to overhaul the public health system based on myths and pseudoscience. His ongoing campaign to undermine trust in vaccines—further amplified by lies to Congress and the public—has only deepened the crisis.”

The leaders of the Washington, D.C.-based Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health weighed in as well. The association’s statement, published to its website on Thursday, began thus: “The Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) expresses its profound concern regarding the abrupt firing of Dr. Susan Monarez as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on August 27, 2025. Dr. Monarez, a Senate-confirmed leader with a strong record of scientific integrity, served in the role for less than a month before her dismissal amid mounting pressure over vaccine policy changes. This leadership transition also included senior CDC officials, including the Chief Medical Officer and multiple center directors, announcing their resignation. These departures send an alarming signal about the erosion of public health safeguards at a time when trust and preparedness are critical. ASPPH and our members have partnered with these CDC centers for decades to advance impactful public health, and we view the partnership with public health as essential.  We stand with the agencies’ remaining staff.”

The ASPPH’s leaders went on to state that “ASPPH urges federal leadership to uphold the CDC’s role as a neutral, science-led institution dedicated solely to the protection and promotion of the public’s health. Abrupt dismissals of top leadership undermine the credibility of public health institutions and jeopardize our nation’s ability to respond effectively to ongoing and emerging health threats. The recent high-profile departures underscore the need for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) oversight. We call upon policymakers to restore stability, reinforce scientific decision-making at the CDC, and reaffirm the agency’s mission to protect health and promote well-being through science, research, and prevention.”

Senators express concern

Might the U.S. Senate act in some way? One key senator to watch was Sen. Bill Cassidy, who is highly respected in the Senate as a former practicing physician. Indeed, his vote was key to the confirmation of Secretary Kennedy. And on Thursday, Newsweek’s Andrew Stanton reported that “Cassidy, who served as a physician before his foray into politics, responded to the firing of Monarez and the resignation of three other senior CDC officials, in a post to X, issuing a warning to the administration. ‘These high profile departures will require oversight by the HELP Committee,’ Cassidy wrote, referring to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which he chairs. Cassidy also called for the CDC vaccine adviser meeting to be postponed amid turmoil at the agency, according to a statement reported by The Washington Post. ‘Serious allegations have been made about the meeting agenda, membership, and lack of scientific process being followed for the now announced ACIP meeting. These decisions directly impact children's health and the meeting should not occur until significant oversight has been conducted," Cassidy wrote.’ He continued that if the meeting proceeds, any recommendations should be "rejected as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership." He had voted to confirm Susan Monarez last month.

Some senators called for immediate action, among them Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington state. Sen. Murray released an extensive statement on Wednesday evening, which began thus: “Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement in response to Director Susan Monarez’s public statement regarding RFK Jr.’s attempts to weaponize public health and put the lives of the American people at risk and the abrupt resignation of senior officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”

Sen. Murray went on to say that “I had serious doubts about Director Monarez’s willingness to stand up against RFK Jr.’s personal mission to destroy public health in America—I’m glad to say that I was wrong. Susan Monarez’s willingness to stand up for science and protect the integrity of the CDC is commendable and deeply important—however, it only further underscores the reality at HHS: Director Monarez is not the problem, RFK Jr. is. If there are any adults left in the White House, it’s well past time they face reality and fire RFK Jr. He is a dangerous man who is determined to abuse his authority to act on truly terrifying conspiracy theories and disinformation—leaving us unprepared for the next deadly pandemic and snuffing out potential cures while he’s at it. He has already taken utterly reckless steps to dismantle our public health infrastructure, and he has even undermined President Trump’s own legacy of helping establish access to lifesaving vaccines through groundbreaking mRNA research,” she said, adding that the resignations of several senior CDC officials should “disturb” the public in terms of the implications of developments at the CDC. She insisted that “We cannot let RFK Jr. burn what’s left of the CDC and our other critical health agencies to the ground—he must be fired. I hope my Republican colleagues who have come to regret their vote to confirm RFK Jr. will join me in calling for his immediate termination from office.”

This is a developing story. Healthcare Innovation will update readers as new developments emerge.

Key Takeaways

For a second day in a row, turmoil roiled the CDC, one day after the dismissal of CDC Director Susan Monarez, Ph.D.

Former senior CDC officials who resigned spoke out in the news media, sharing their concerns.

Both public healthcare associations and some U.S. senators expressed concern.