Overview

• HHS announced Susan Monarez’s resignation on social media, but her attorneys said she did not resign and had not been formally told she was fired.
• Several senior CDC officials, including Debra Houry, quit in quick succession, and no interim director has been named.
• CNN, citing anonymous sources, reported that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urged Monarez to fire three top CDC officials and that she refused.
• Monarez’s legal team said she was targeted for resisting directives they described as reckless and for defending career public‑health experts.
• The upheaval follows Kennedy’s earlier moves criticized by scientists, including dismissing the entire 17‑member ACIP panel and canceling about $500 million in federal mRNA vaccine funding.