Kennedy fired Susan Monarez as the Director of CDC last week barely a month after she was narrowly confirmed by the Senate. She was reportedly given the chance to quit. When she refused, she was fired.
According to multiple reports both in the media and among my contacts at the CDC – Monarez had an acrimonious meeting with Kennedy early in the week.
In that DC meeting, Monarez disagreed with Kennedy’s decision to dismiss all the members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices and replacing them with several anti-vaccine activists.
My sources tell me she also clashed with Kennedy about her response to the murder of a CDC employee when the Atlanta campus was sprayed with gunfire a couple of weeks ago. Monarez let some staff temporarily work from home and spoke openly about trauma and recovery in an all-staff meeting. Kennedy admonished her for her response to the shooting. Her response was well-received by rank-and-file CDC staff.
Four senior leaders at CDC quit in response to the firing: Debra Houry, Demetre Daskalakis, Daniel Jernigan, and Jen Layden. They all warned that political interference and misinformation now threaten the evidence-based foundation of public health in the U.S.
Behind the scenes, Kennedy is preparing to release a September “report” trying to tie vaccines to autism, despite decades of evidence disproving that claim. In a cabinet meeting last week, he said he’ll follow the report with “aggressive interventions”.
While he didn’t say what that means, it likely will drive big changes to the recommended childhood vaccine schedule (dropping vaccines) and perhaps even delicensing some vaccines. Perhaps Monarez pushed back on that in the meeting this week. I don’t know that, but it makes sense.
The next CDC director will almost certainly be chosen for political loyalty, not expertise or commitment to evidence-based public health policy. If Kennedy actually selects a credentialed professional, that person will likely be the type of person more interested in keeping the job than actually doing the job.
Update: Kennedy has appointed a guy named Jim O’Neill as acting Director. O’Neill holds only degrees in the humanities and lacks any professional training in medicine, public health, epidemiology, or the life sciences.
His career path includes stints as a biotech investor, a speechwriter during the Bush administration, and an aide within HHS; none of which prepare him to manage disease surveillance, guide scientific research, or oversee complex health emergencies.
He advocates a “post-market” approach to drug approvals, suggesting drugs be licensed after brief safety trials, with efficacy determined only later. He has even suggested people should be able to buy and sell organs as a means to increase supply.
Under U.S. law (42 U.S.C. § 242c), the CDC Director must be appointed by the President with Senate confirmation, and is tasked with directing all disease prevention efforts, setting policy, supervising operations, and coordinating with internal divisions to protect public health both domestically and globally. O’Neill’s experience doesn’t match these requirements and responsibilities.