Ousted CDC Director Susan Monarez claimed in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal Thursday that she was fired for refusing to rubber-stamp COVID-19 recommendations to be made by an advisory panel that has expressed “antivaccine rhetoric.”
In the days before she was forced out, former CDC Director Susan Monarez was asked to “preapprove” the recommendations of the agency’s vaccine advisory committee. She refused, leading to her termination.
Monarez made this claim in an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, where she said that this advisory panel—the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices—which is scheduled to meet on Sept. 18 and 19, has been “filled with people who have publicly expressed antivaccine rhetoric.” It is imperative, Monarez wrote, that the recommendations of this group, “aren’t rubber-stamped, but instead are rigorously and scientifically reviewed before being accepted or rejected.”
In July, Monarez became the first CDC director to be confirmed by the Senate, in accordance with the CDC Leadership Accountability Act of 2023, which requires that the Senate sign off on whoever takes the post. Last week, however, after just 29 days, she was fired by the White House. Reports at the time attributed her ouster to disagreements with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the administration’s COVID-19 policies, noting that Monarez refused to immediately support the withdrawal of approvals for certain vaccines.
Citing an anonymous source familiar with the matter, The Washington Post reported on Aug. 28 that Kennedy then urged Monarez to step down for “not supporting President Trump’s agenda.”
In her opinion piece for the WSJ, Monarez also cited President Donald Trump’s recent post on social media where he called on “drug companies” to substantiate the “success of their various COVID drugs.”
“Mr. Trump is right to call for proof,” Monarez said, adding that that was “exactly what I was doing when I insisted all CDC recommendations be based on credible data, not ideology or preordained outcomes.” In order to retain the confidence of parents, physicians and the broader public, the CDC should put “children above politics, evidence above ideology and facts above fear.”
“Public health shouldn’t be partisan,” Monarez wrote, insisting that vaccines have “saved millions of lives.”
Kennedy has denied Monarez’s allegations against him. Speaking at a Senate hearing on Thursday, the secretary said the ousted director lied in her opinion piece.
“Mr. Secretary, did you in fact do what Director Monarez said you did, which is tell her to just go along with vaccine recommendations, even if she didn’t think such recommendations align with scientific evidence?” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), asked during the session.
“No I did not say that to her,” Kennedy responded, “and I never had a private meeting with her.”
