The director of US Disease Control and Prevention Centers (CDC), Susan Monarez, has contested the official announcement of her resignation and said she will not resign to office. On the agency’s website, the “About” section already presents the position of director as a vacancy, but Monarez’s lawyers maintain that she remains ahead of the institution.
In publication in BlueskyLawyer Mark Zaid, who represents her alongside Abbe Lowell, stated that Monarez “has not resigned or fired. She will not resign.” According to him, the director was notified by White House employees that she would be fired, but the procedure would not be valid. “As presidential nominee confirmed by the Senate, only the president himself can fire it. For this reason, we reject the notification received by Dr. Monarez as legally invalid and she remains as director of the CDC.”
In a joint statement, also available in the BlueskyZaid and Lowell have reiterated that the director, as a person “full and dedicated to science, will not resign.” The text also accuses health secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to use public health as a “political weapon,” after Monarez refuses to support “unnamer and irresponsible” guidelines.
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This Wednesday, 27, in publication in the XHHS said that Monarez “is no longer director of the CDC. We thank you for your dedicated performance for the American people.” The agency added that Secretary Kennedy “has full confidence in his team on the CDC, which will remain vigilant in the protection of Americans against infectious diseases inside and outside the country.”
The White House justified Susan Monarez’s resignation stating that the CDC director was not “aligned” with President Donald Trump’s agenda and that, when he refused to resign, he was away, according to spokesman Kush Desai.
*With information from the Associated Press
