Key players in the “Make America Healthy Again” movement on Thursday came out in stalwart support of President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s decision to fire Susan Monarez, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Monarez, who has been a government biomedical researcher for decades, was never seen as a MAHA pick. Instead, she was tapped at the last minute following Trump‘s decision to ditch his first pick, Dr. Dave Weldon, a former congressman who was seen as too openly against vaccines.

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The news of Monarez’s firing broke in an extended social media back-and-forth late into Wednesday evening between Health and Human Services staff, the White House, and Monarez’s attorneys, culminating in an official statement from a White House spokesperson that she had been terminated.

Kennedy told Fox and Friends on Thursday morning, without revealing details, that a “malaise at the agency” required an overhaul of CDC leadership.

“The agency is in trouble, and we need to fix it, and we are fixing it. And it may be that some people should not be working there anymore,” Kennedy said.

Jay Richards, head of the Heritage Foundation’s new Restoring American Wellness initiative, told the Washington Examiner that the move was “surprising” considering that Monarez was only in the position for roughly a month.

“But Secretary Kennedy and President Trump made the right call. Her public statements, and those of other CDC officials who resigned in protest, reveal an intense hostility to the MAHA agenda,” Richards said.

Tensions had been brewing between CDC leadership and Kennedy for several weeks, but became public within hours of Kennedy’s announcement that COVID-19 vaccines would only be approved for those over age 65 or at risk for developing severe disease.

“The triggering event seems to have involved quite modest policy revisions — baby steps really —involving the mRNA COVID vaccines,” Richards said. “Let’s hope this episode signals to other employees at the CDC that it will no longer be business as usual.”

Calley Means, special adviser to Kennedy and Trump on health policy, posted on X that people have lost faith in the CDC following a host of policy decisions made during the pandemic, including collaborating with teachers unions on school closures and concealing myocarditis risks of COVID-19 vaccines.

“If CDC employees want to defend the status quo and aren’t aligned with a reform, they should resign,” Means said.

CDC staff and alumni gathered by the hundreds outside the agency’s headquarters in Atlanta on Thursday to salute Monarez and the four officials who resigned.

Former chief medical officer Dr. Debra Houry reportedly told the crowd that “we need Congress to intervene” and that “many others” would soon be forced to leave the CDC or lose their jobs.

The Senate Finance Committee announced that Kennedy will testify on Sept. 4, an appearance that was scheduled before the CDC shakeup.

Senate Health Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said the CDC’s senior-level losses will require oversight from his committee. Cassidy’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Washington Examiner.

Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy’s former running mate during his brief independent run for president, was quick to condemn Cassidy, who has been at odds with the HHS secretary over vaccine policy since he was nominated for the post.

“Who cares what Senator Cassidy says? Cassidy has been a disloyal, Big Pharma stooge his entire career,” Shanahan said in a post late Wednesday.

CDC DIRECTOR OUSTER CAME AFTER CLASHES OVER VACCINES AND MORE

Shanahan threw her support behind Weldon, giving him her “complete endorsement.”

“Dr. Weldon passes every test, especially the one where the Deep State and Big Pharma try to make it impossible to nominate him,” Shanahan said.