Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana issued a warning after the Trump administration announced it was firing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) head Susan Monarez.
Newsweek reached out to Cassidy’s office, the White House, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for comment.
Why It Matters
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made major changes to the federal government’s vaccine policies. These changes include removing members of a key vaccine advisory panel and ending funding for some mRNA vaccines. Kennedy has also added new restrictions to the COVID-19 vaccine.
The White House said Monarez was being removed because she is “not aligned with the president’s agenda.” Critics, however, warned that her firing could weaken scientific standards at the federal government and the CDC.
What To Know
Cassidy, who used to work as a physician, responded to Monarez’s firing and the resignation of three other senior CDC officials in a post on 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.
He also called for the CDC vaccine adviser meeting to be postponed because of the agency’s current problems, 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 added that if the meeting goes ahead, any recommendations should be “rejected as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership.”
Cassidy supported Monarez’s nomination to lead the CDC.
“America needs a CDC Director who will reform the agency and work to restore public trust in health institutions. With decades of proven experience as a public health official, Dr. Monarez is ready to take on this challenge and I look forward to working with her,” he said after her confirmation last month.
While Cassidy has sometimes criticized Kennedy’s approach to vaccines and public health, he supported Kennedy’s nomination to lead the department after receiving commitments on “protecting the public health benefit of vaccination.”
In June, Cassidy also raised concerns about some of the administration’s appointments to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, saying some appointees “do not have significant experience studying microbiology, epidemiology, or immunology,” in a post to X.
The three senior CDC officials who resigned on Wednesday are: Dr. Debra Houry, deputy director; Dr. Daniel Jernigan, head of the CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; and Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, head of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
Monarez’s attorney, Mark Zaid, wrote on X that she “has neither resigned nor received notification from the White House that she was fired.”
“Our client was notified tonight by White House staff in the personnel office that she was fired. As a presidential appointee, Senate-confirmed officer, only the president himself can fire her. For this reason, we reject notification Dr. Monarez has received as legally deficient and she remains as CDC Director. We have notified the White House Counsel of our position,” he wrote.
What People Are Saying
Former CDC Director Tom Frieden wrote on X: “Public health is under assault. The purge of CDC leadership, people with decades of experience guiding the nation’s response to health threats, dismantles the very programs and direction that keep Americans safe from infectious diseases, chronic illness, injuries, and violence. Losing institutional memory and expertise means weakening our frontline defense.”
White House spokesperson Kush Desai told Politico: “As her attorney’s statement makes abundantly clear, Susan Monarez is not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again. Since Susan Monarez refused to resign despite informing HHS leadership of her intent to do so, the White House has terminated Monarez from her position with the CDC.”
The HHS posted on X: “Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people. Secretary Kennedy has full confidence in his team at the CDC, who will continue to be vigilant in protecting Americans against infectious diseases at home and abroad.”
Senator Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, wrote on X: “Tonight’s events are yet more evidence that putting a quack like Bobby Kennedy in charge of public health was a grave error. The Trump Administration has been engaged for months in a campaign to destroy the CDC, America’s preeminent disease-fighting agency. The Administration’s extremism and incompetence are putting lives at risk.”
What Happens Next
It is not yet clear whether legal challenges will be filed over Monarez’s firing. President Trump has not said who he would like to replace her as CDC head.
