Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez was fired on Wednesday after refusing to resign from her post, a White House official told The Post. 

Monarez’s removal comes after she was reportedly issued an ultimatum by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert. F. Kennedy Jr: quit or be fired. 

Susan Monarez has resigned as director of the CDC after less than a month at the helm. REUTERS

“As her attorney’s statement makes abundantly clear, Susan Monarez is not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.  

“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,” he added. 

The clash between Monarez, who was sworn in less than a month ago, and Kennedy stems from disagreements over vaccine policy, a Trump administration official told the New York Times. 

The official claimed RFK demanded Monarez’s resignation on Monday and when she refused, he ordered her to fire top CDC leaders by the end of the week. 

Bullet holes are seen in windows at the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) Global Headquarters following a shooting that left two dead, on August 9, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia. Getty Images

Kennedy demanded a second meeting with the public health official on Tuesday, where he accused Monarez of “being a leaker” and told her she would be fired, after learning that she called Senate health committee Chairman. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) following the Monday meeting. 

HHS, which oversees the CDC, announced that Monarez’s was out at the agency in an X post earlier Wednesday. 

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“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,” the post read.

Kennedy “has full confidence in his team at [CDC] who will continue to be vigilant in protecting Americans against infectious diseases at home and abroad,” the post continued, without naming her replacement. 

Monarez’s lawyer accused the Trump administration of targeting their client and said she “has neither resigned nor received notification from the White House that she has been fired.”

“As a person of integrity and devoted to science, she will not resign,” attorneys Abbe Lowell, who previously represented Hunter Biden, and Mark Zaid said in a statement. 

Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to the press at the Texas Capitol after Gov. Greg Abbott (not shown) finished signing three health-related bills. Bob Daemmrich/ZUMA / SplashNews.com

“When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted,” they added. “This is not about one official. It is about the systematic dismantling of public health institutions, the silencing of experts, and the dangerous politicization of science.

“The attack on Dr. Monarez is a warning to every American: our evidence-based systems are being undermined from within.” 

Monarez, a federal government scientist, was tapped by President Trump to lead the public health agency in March after he withdrew his previous nomination of Dave Weldon.

She was confirmed as director of the CDC by the Senate on July 29 and sworn in by Kennedy on July 31.

Monarez reportedly objected to RFK’s June decision to remove all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a panel that advises the CDC on vaccine recommendations, according to the New York Times. 

Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, previously withdrew CDC recommendations for COVID-19 shots for pregnant women and healthy children.

Monarez’s departure comes on the same day the HHS secretary announced changes to COVID-19 vaccine eligibility.

Under the new rules, people over age 65 will remain eligible to get the vaccines, but younger adults and children will need to establish they have an underlying condition such as asthma or obesity that puts them at higher risk of serious illness.

While Monarez’s was fired, four other top CDC officials did resign Wednesday, including the agency’s chief medical officer; the head of the center’s vaccine recommendations division; the head of vaccine safety; and the top official in the CDC’s office of public health data.

With Post wires