By Michael Erman and Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez has left the agency less than a month after being sworn in, a Trump administration official told Reuters on Wednesday.
The Washington Post first reported Monarez was being ousted and on her way out earlier on Wednesday, citing multiple Trump administration officials familiar with the matter.
Neither the official nor the Post cited a reason for her departure from the agency. Citing several anonymous CDC employees, the newspaper reported that Monarez on Friday canceled an agency-wide call that had been scheduled for Monday.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the White House did not immediately provide comment.
Monarez, a federal government scientist, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 29 to lead the CDC after President Donald Trump nominated her earlier in the year. She was sworn in by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on July 31.
Her departure from the agency follows a shooting at the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, earlier in the month.
Monarez was the Trump administration’s second nominee for the role. In March, the president withdrew his nomination of former Republican congressman and vaccine critic Dave Weldon, a Kennedy ally, just hours before his scheduled confirmation hearing.
Since being named the top U.S. health official, Kennedy has targeted vaccine policy, and in May withdrew a federal recommendation for COVID shots for pregnant women and healthy children.
He followed up in June by firing all members of the CDC’s expert vaccine advisory panel, which recommends how they are used and by whom, and replacing them with hand-picked advisers including fellow anti-vaccine activists.
Kennedy has made major decisions on vaccines in the absence of a CDC director while Monarez awaited confirmation and continued to do so afterwards. Her departure comes on the same day that Kennedy announced changes to COVID vaccine eligibility.
(Reporting by Michael Erman in New York and Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington; Additional reporting by Jasper Ward and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington and Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Editing by Rami Ayyub and Bill Berkrot)
Comments