


President Donald Trump’s appointee for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, Susan Monarez, is reportedly being ousted from her post less than one month after being confirmed to the position.
Monarez, who served as the interim director for the CDC before being nominated by Trump to run the agency, has a long history of government service under Republican and Democratic administrations.
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Multiple sources told the Washington Post that Monarez had been forced out.
Before being tapped to lead the CDC, Monarez served at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health under the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as in biomedical research capacities for the Department of Homeland Security.
During her confirmation process, Monarez secured votes from all Republicans in the Senate despite reservations from some on the right that her history in the public health establishment would conflict with the Make America Healthy Again agenda of reforming institutions and rooting out conflicts of interest.
Monarez was not Trump’s first pick for CDC director. He originally nominated former Republican congressman Dr. Dave Weldon, who was widely criticized for promoting the theory that vaccines cause autism. News broke about Weldon’s being dropped from the prospective Cabinet post within hours of his scheduled confirmation hearing before the Senate health committee on March 13.
Monarez was the first CDC director to undergo the Senate confirmation process following rule changes passed by Congress after the COVID-19 pandemic. The timing of a confirmation hearing for her eventual replacement remains unclear.
Prior to Monarez’s installation at CDC, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had taken an active role in overseeing vaccine policy, which is typically managed through the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration.
In June, before Monarez’s confirmation hearing, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, ostensibly due to financial conflicts of interest between board members and the pharmaceutical industry. Within days, Kennedy replaced the members with seven outsiders more aligned with his skepticism toward vaccines.
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On Aug. 8, roughly a week after Monarez was sworn into the position, the CDC headquarters in Atlanta was attacked by a gunman who claimed the COVID-19 vaccine made him depressed and suicidal. As of Wednesday afternoon, Monarez’s most recent post on X is of her attending the memorial service on Aug. 22 for Officer David Rose, who was killed on duty during the incident.