The leadership drama at America’s top public health agency just took another wild turn.
Barely a month after stepping into the role, CDC Director Dr Susan Monarez has been pushed out.
The White House wasted no time naming her replacement.
Jim O’Neill, a former Silicon Valley investor and current deputy to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is now in charge.
What’s The Reason?
She wasn’t “aligned with the president’s agenda.”
But Monarez’s lawyers say it was about more than politics. They claim she refused to sign off on “reckless, unscientific directives.”
Her short tenure had already been turbulent — she’d consoled staff after a gunman attacked CDC headquarters.
She resisted pressure from Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, over immunization policy.
The shakeup has triggered a wave of resignations inside the agency.
Senior figures, including Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry and infectious disease expert Daniel Jernigan, have walked away.
They cited frustration with leadership and vaccine policy.
“The CDC is in trouble, needs to be fixed,” Kennedy insisted on Fox News, doubling down on his vision.
Critics aren’t convinced. Senator Bernie Sanders blasted the firing as “reckless and dangerous.”
Former staff warn of a politicized CDC unable to counter rising misinformation.
So here’s the real question: can America’s top health agency survive a cure that looks an awful lot like the disease?
