At least three senior CDC officials resigned on Wednesday after Dr. Susan Moranez was ousted as the CDC Director.
According to The Washington Post, Monarez departed the CDC over RFK Jr.’s push to change vaccine policy.
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. @SecKennedy has full confidence in his team at @CDCgov who will continue to be vigilant in protecting Americans against infectious…
— HHS.gov (@HHSGov) August 27, 2025
Following the departure of Dr. Monarez, three senior CDC officials resigned per The Hill and PBS: Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, and CDC Chief Medical Officer Deb Houry.
Daskalakis, a radical leftist who rose to prominence during the monkeypox outbreak wrote in an email obtained by The Hill: “I am not able to serve in this role any longer because of the ongoing weaponizing of public health.”
NEW: Following the reports of Monarez’s departure as @CDCgov director, several other leaders have just submitted their resignations: Dan Hernigan, head of the National Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases and Deb Houry, the CDC’s chief medical officer. Unclear if related.
— Ali Rogin (@AliRogin) August 27, 2025
The Hill reported:
At least three top officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention submitted their resignations on Wednesday, saying the recent changes and leadership at their agency are preventing them from fulfilling their duties as public health authorities.
The resignations came the same day that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy announced a slew of changes to limit access to the COVID-19 vaccine, and just hours after news broke that CDC Director Susan Monarez was ousted from the agency.
Demetre C Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; and CDC Chief Medical Officer Deb Houry have all submitted their resignations, according to emails shared with The Hill.
NBC News reported that Dr. Jen Layden, director of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance and Technology, also resigned.
Update: Monarez’s lawyer Mark Zaid said Monarez has neither resigned nor yet been fired.
Abbe Lowell and I represent @CDCgov Director Susan Monarez. Contrary to govt statements, Dr. Monarez has neither resigned nor yet been fired. We have issued the following statement: pic.twitter.com/5OHbwMkVIQ
— Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) August 27, 2025
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