Chaos in CDC as White House Removes Director After Vaccine Row with Kennedy
Infectious Diseases 28/08/2025 •
The headquarters of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The White House “terminated” Dr Susan Monarez as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) late Wednesday night after she refused to resign.

On Wednesday evening, Monarez’s legal counsel said that she would not resign as CDC director despite an earlier announcement on X  by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that she was no longer in her post.

“When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving an agenda,” said her legal counsel, Mark Zaid, in a statement.

Zaid also accused Kennedy and HHS of “[setting] their sites on weaponising public health for political gain”, adding that his client had not been informed of her dismissal, which comes barely a month after she was confirmed in her position by the US Senate.

However, four top CDC officials did resign on Wednesday. They are CDC chief medical officer Dr Debra Houry; Dr Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; Dr Daniel Jernigan from the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Disease, and Dr Jennifer Layden, head of the office public health data.

Daskalis said in a statement on X that he was resigning because he is “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”.

Daskalis added that the recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule “threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people” and that “the data analyses that supported this decision have never been shared with CDC despite my respectful requests to HHS and other leadership”.

FDA restricts access to vaccines

The CDC turmoil comes a day after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) restricted  COVID-19 vaccines to Americans aged over 64. Access to younger people is restricted to those with at least one underlying medical condition that exposes them to severe risk. Children may only receive the vaccine if they consult a medical provider. 

The FDA has also removed the emergency use listing for vaccines for children. This means that the BioNTech-Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, is only available for children over the age of five, according to Pfizer. 

The Novavax vaccine has been licensed for those aged 12 and over. Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, Spikevax, is now the only vaccine available to children from the age of six months – but only if they have underlying conditions.

Newer COVID-19 formulations from Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax to address the latest variants have only been approved for those over the age of 11 years who have at least one underlying condition.

In reaction, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has urged physicians to continue to recommend COVID-19 vaccines based on “the best available science” after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) restricted  COVID-19 vaccines to Americans aged over 64.

“By narrowing its approval, FDA has made a decision that completely contradicts the evidence base, severely undermines trust in science-driven policy and dangerously limits vaccine access, removing millions of Americans’ choice to be protected and increasing the risk of severe outcomes from COVID,” said IDSA president Dr Tina Tan in a statement.

Off-label use

Tan added that “scientific evidence continues to strongly support broad vaccination far beyond the limited populations outlined in the FDA’s new label”.

“Physicians can still provide COVID vaccines off-label, and IDSA strongly urges doctors to continue recommending and administering vaccination to their patients based on the best available science,” said Tan.

She warned that “pharmacists’ ability to provide off-label vaccines may be severely constrained, underscoring the vital role of physicians and other clinicians in maintaining access”. 

IDSA also called on insurers to “continue covering COVID vaccines consistent with multiple medical society recommendations and scientific evidence”, and urged the US Congress to “conduct strong oversight of the administration’s decision to restrict Americans’ freedom to choose vaccination as we approach the upcoming respiratory virus season”. 

Dr Tom Frieden, CEO of Resolve to Save Lives and a former CDC director, said that “the change to the vaccine label, which has been driven by falsehoods, may put vaccines out of reach of many Americans who want to protect themselves and their loved ones from illness”.

Earlier this month, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended COVID-19 vaccines for children between the ages of six months and two years, who are most vulnerable to severe disease.

Research shows that long COVID may have affected up to six million children in the US. 

Although Axios reported on 8 August that the CDC had changed the wastewater viral activity for COVID-19 from “low” to “moderate”, data from the CDC has not been available since 9 August due to a “technical issue” and the risk is now classified as “low”.

CDC advisory committee still to weigh in

Meanwhile, Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr welcomed the FDA’s decisions on X, saying that he has delivered on his promises to “end covid vaccine mandates; keep vaccines available to people who want them, especially the vulnerable; demand placebo-controlled trials from companies, and end the emergency”.  

The CDC has yet to make its recommendations about this year’s COVID-19 vaccines. However, in June Kennedy Jr fired all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP). At least half of the eight people he replaced them with have spoken out against the handling of COVID-19 and vaccines.

The new appointees are Dr Joseph Hibbeln, Martin Kulldorff, Retsef Levi, Dr Robert Malone, Dr Cody Meissner, Dr Michael Ross, Dr James Pagano and Vicky Pebsworth.

Malone has promoted several false and alarmist claims about COVID-19 vaccines, and said they did not work. 

Pebsworth is a director and board member at the National Vaccine Information Center, which has questioned the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and encouraged people to seek alternatives.

Kulldorff was co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration with Dr Jay Battacharya, new director of the National Institutes of Health, which favoured herd immunity to address COVID-19 for all but the most vulnerable.

Meissner, is in favour of children and pregnant children being excluded from the COVID-19 vaccine schedule.

Levi, who has questioned the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, has also been appointed to chair a new review committee to review COVID-19 science.

In his resignation statement, the CDC’s Daskalakis said that the “recent term of reference for the COVID vaccine work group created by this ACIP puts people of dubious intent and more dubious scientific rigor in charge of recommending vaccine policy to a director hamstrung and sidelined by an authoritarian leader.   Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults.  Their base should be the people they serve not a political voting bloc.”

This story was updated with news of the disruptions in the CDC leadership.

Image Credits: Photo by Mat Napo on Unsplash.

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