Susan Monarez is refusing to step down as director of the CDC after the Department of Health and Human Services announced she was being removed.
Longtime government scientist Susan Monarez is refusing to leave her position as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced she had been removed from the role less than a month after she was sworn in.
Attorneys Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell said they are representing Monarez and claimed she “has neither resigned nor yet been fired.”
The attorneys released a statement on social media, claiming HHS and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are weaponizing public health for political gain and putting millions of American lives at risk.
“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 statement 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.”
The reported that sources within the CDC, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said HHS leaders, including Kennedy, sought to get Monarez to commit to rescinding approvals for certain COVID-19 vaccines. When Monarez did not immediately commit, she was told by administration officials that she must resign or she would be fired.
Sources also claimed she then attempted to involve the chairman of the Senate’s top health committee, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. The move reportedly further angered Kennedy.
When reached for comment, a spokesperson for the HHS directed Fox News Digital to the agency’s response shared on its official X account.
