CDC: Top officials from the Vaccine Unit, Zoonotic Division, and the Chief Medical Officer are resigning, per reports.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Or maybe not. See reply #8.

Reposted by Whale-Killing Windmill Hate
https://bsky.app/profile/kenwhite.bsky.social

MeidasTouch
‪@meidastouch.com‬

Follow
CHAOS ERUPTS AT CDC

CDC Director Susan Monarez has been ousted after RFK Jr. demanded she change her policy on the COVID vaccine. Top officials from the Vaccine Unit, Zoonotic Division, and the Chief Medical Officer are resigning, per reports.

Horrifying news for public health.

August 27, 2025 at 6:31 PM

CHAOS ERUPTS AT CDC

CDC Director Susan Monarez has been ousted after RFK Jr. demanded she change her policy on the COVID vaccine. Top officials from the Vaccine Unit, Zoonotic Division, and the Chief Medical Officer are resigning, per reports.

Horrifying news for public health.

— MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) 2025-08-27T22:31:20.272Z

WP EXCLUSIVE
CDC director ousted, top officials resign after RFK Jr. push to change vaccine policy

Susan Monarez was confirmed as the CDC’s director in July. Three top agency officials announced resignations as the Trump administration pushed her out.

Updated
August 27, 2025 at 6:28 p.m. EDT 44 minutes ago


Susan Monarez attends a Senate hearing on her nomination to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in June. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

By Lena H. Sun, Dan Diamond and Lauren Weber

Susan Monarez was ousted Wednesday weeks into her tenure as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after she faced pressure to change vaccine policy. Several senior CDC officials announced their resignations shortly after, plunging the public health agency into turmoil.

Monarez was pressed for days by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., administration lawyers and other officials over whether she would support rescinding certain approvals for coronavirus vaccines, according to two people with knowledge of those conversations. Kennedy, who has a long history of anti-vaccine advocacy, and other officials questioned Monarez Monday on whether she was aligned with the administration’s efforts to change vaccine policy, the people said.

Monarez, who was a longtime federal government scientist before President Donald Trump nominated her to lead the CDC, declined to commit to support changing coronavirus vaccine policy without consulting her advisers, two people said. That prompted Kennedy to urge her to resign for “not supporting President Trump’s agenda,” one of the people said.
Advertisement

Monarez declined to immediately resign and enlisted Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), chairman of the Senate’s health committee who cast a pivotal vote for Kennedy’s confirmation after securing commitments to protect vaccines, said three people with knowledge of those conversations. Cassidy privately pushed back on Kennedy’s demands, the people said, further angering Kennedy, who lambasted Monarez for involving the senator.

{snip}

By Lena H. Sun
Lena H. Sun is a staff writer covering health with a focus on public health/infectious disease. Email: [e-mail]. Or reach her securely on Signal @LenaSun.04follow on X@bylenasun

By Dan Diamond
Dan Diamond is a White House reporter for The Washington Post, with a focus on policy and public health. His email is [e-mail] and you can reach him on Signal at @dan_diamond.01.follow on X@ddiamond

By Lauren Weber
Lauren Weber joined The Washington Post in 2023 as an accountability reporter focused on the forces promoting scientific and medical disinformation. She previously investigated the decimated public health system and covid disparities for Kaiser Health News. You can reach her at [e-mail] or send a secure message on signal @LWeber.91follow on X@LaurenWeberHP

[hlthe2b]

1. I figured this is what happened with her ouster...

[The Blue Flower]

2. What is his personal interest in causing so many unnecessary deaths?

Does he have stock in coffin manufacturers or cemeteries?

[Shipwack]

13. He'd rather be "correct"...

… than have to change his views. Like many do-called Christians he loves having contrarian views. Now he gets to be in the minority, but still hold power over the majority.

He’d rather a million children die than admit he was wrong.

This can also apply to Second Amendment absolutists, etc.

[Hekate]

19. NotRFK was chillingly described by his cousin Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg as a "predator"...

It was notable that she chose to speak out in the time he was under consideration. As everyone knows, there were a whole passel of Kennedy cousins around while growing up, so she knows him.

He was scary. He owned raptor birds, and in order to feed them he would drop living baby mice into a blender in front of his cousins. I think he was in his teens at the time.

He got one of his brothers hooked on heroine, peddled it to others. He still says it helped him (NotRFK) to study.

I think an appropriate name for that kind of behavior is “psychotic” but I think her mother Jacqueline raised her to be restrained and polite.

Human death due to destroying the CDC and peddling lies? Just a next-level thrill, I would think.

[B.See]

20. Fascists and demagogues like Trump and R-Fk Junior

Don't mind sacrificing the lives of many for their own culture wars. But not their lives.

Didn't see Trump guzzling horse p-----, bleach, or sticking light tubes up his own azz, did we?

I bet they get their vaccines PDQ.

[Passages]

3. Hold press conferences over and over again, he is a dangerous predatory FRAUD.

Every Dem in office must do the same, in solidarity.

24/7 Do not let this go.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Top CDC scientists resign after Trump fires agency head: report

Multiple scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention submitted their resignations on Wednesday afternoon after President Donald Trump fired the recently confirmed CDC director.

— Raw Story (@rawstory.com) 2025-08-27T23:00:35Z

https://www.rawstory.com/cdc-2673933922/

Multiple scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention submitted their resignations on Wednesday afternoon after President Donald Trump fired the recently confirmed CDC director.

The Department of Health and Human Services posted on its official X account that Susan Monarez is "no longer director" of the agency, which happened about one month after she was confirmed for the job. The Washington Post reported that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked Monarez to leave because she would not change the agency's vaccine policies.

Ali Rogan, journalist for PBS NewsHour, reported on X that three other high-ranking scientists from the agency also resigned, and more departures could follow.

The other departing scientists are Dan Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; Deb Houry, the agency's chief medical officer; and Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. MaddowBlog-Less than a month into her tenure, Susan Monarez is already being ousted at the CDC

Less than a month ago, Senate Republicans confirmed Susan Monarez to lead the CDC. Remarkably, her tenure is already coming to an end.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/susan-monarez-cdc-centers-disease-control-rcna227627

Trump’s second choice was Susan Monarez, who had greater success: Late last month, Senate Republicans ignored Democratic concerns and confirmed her as the new CDC chief, making her the first CDC director without a medical degree in more than 70 years.

Monarez’s tenure, however, was extraordinarily brief. The Washington Post was first to report:

Susan Monarez, the newly installed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is being ousted weeks after she was confirmed to lead the public health agency, according to multiple administration officials familiar with the matter. ... Monarez had scheduled an agencywide call Monday, but that was canceled Friday, according to several CDC employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

.....While these new developments are still unfolding, Monarez’s departure comes just weeks after a gunman opened fire in Atlanta near the CDC campus, killing a police officer and leaving CDC officials terrified and frustrated with their leaders, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

It also comes at a difficult time for the CDC in general, with the agency recently having curtailed some of its important work, coupled with RFK Jr. undermining the CDC by, among other things, ousting the members of the CDC’s independent vaccine advisory committee.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. Top CDC Officials Resign After Ousting Of Director

Hat tip, Joe.My.God.

Top CDC Officials Resign After Ousting Of Director
August 27, 2025

[Fox56, Lexington KY] reports:

At least three top officials at the CDC 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 [photo], 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.

{snip}

[superpatriotman]

7. Science does not have to follow the Krasnov agenda

Science will be science.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

8. The CDC head did NOT resign and has two of the top lawyers

Link to tweet

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. Hmmm. That's interesting. Thanks, and good evening. NT

[obamanut2012]

9. Bill Cassidy sucks

He was the vote.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

11. "... [I'm] linking here the full letter of resignation posted by one of the departing CDC officials, Dr. Demetre."

Reposted by Whale-Killing Windmill Hate
https://bsky.app/profile/kenwhite.bsky.social

Eric Columbus
‪@ericcolumbus.bsky.social‬

Follow
Wow
The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who l am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud. I am resigning because of the cowardice of a leader that cannot admit that HIS and his minions' words over decades created an environment where violence like this can occur. I reject his and his colleagues' thoughts and prayers, and advise they direct those to people that they have not actively harmed.
ALT

‪Aaron Fritschner‬
‪@fritschner.bsky.social‬
· 23m
It won’t fit in screen shots but linking here the full letter of resignation posted by one of the departing CDC officials, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who ran the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases and led efforts to fight COVID, monkeypox, and bird flu
x.com/dr_demetre/s...

August 27, 2025 at 8:21 PM

Wow

— Eric Columbus (@ericcolumbus.bsky.social) 2025-08-28T00:21:46.104Z

Aaron Fritschner
‪@fritschner.bsky.social‬

Follow
It won’t fit in screen shots but linking here the full letter of resignation posted by one of the departing CDC officials, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who ran the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases and led efforts to fight COVID, monkeypox, and bird flu
x.com/dr_demetre/s...

August 27, 2025 at 8:06 PM

It won’t fit in screen shots but linking here the full letter of resignation posted by one of the departing CDC officials, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who ran the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases and led efforts to fight COVID, monkeypox, and bird flu
x.com/dr_demetre/s...

— Aaron Fritschner (@fritschner.bsky.social) 2025-08-28T00:06:25.946Z

[Shipwack]

14. Well, it's a good thing he's not helping the fascists directly, but

I think he’d honor his grandfather better by staying and fighting.

I readily admit this is easy for me to say. I believe he does not make this decision lightly.

Still… people shouldn’t be obeying in advance.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

12. Demetre C. Daskalakis MD MPH: My resignation letter from CDC.

DrDemetre
@dr_demetre
1h
My resignation letter from CDC.

Dear Dr. Houry,

I am writing to formally resign from my position as Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), effective August 28, 2025, close of business. I am happy to stay on for two weeks to provide transition, if requested.

This decision has not come easily, as I deeply value the work that the CDC does in safeguarding public health and am proud of my contributions to that critical mission. However, after much contemplation and reflection on recent developments and perspectives brought to light by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., I find that the views he and his staff have shared challenge my ability to continue in my current role at the agency and in the service of the health of the American people. Enough is enough.

While I hold immense respect for the institution and my colleagues, I believe that it is imperative to align my professional responsibilities to my system of ethics and my understanding of the science of infectious disease, immunology, and my promise to serve the American people. This step is necessary to ensure that I can contribute effectively in a capacity that allows me to remain true to my principles.

I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health. The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people. The data analyses that supported this decision have never been shared with CDC despite my respectful requests to HHS and other leadership. This lack of meaningful engagement was further compounded by a “frequently asked questions” document written to support the Secretary’s directive that was circulated by HHS without input from CDC subject matter experts and that cited studies that did not support the conclusions that were attributed to these authors. Having worked in local and national public health for years, I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people.

It is untenable to serve in an organization that is not afforded the opportunity to discuss decisions of scientific and public health importance released under the moniker of CDC. The lack of communication by HHS and other CDC political leadership that culminates in social media posts announcing major policy changes without prior notice demonstrate a disregard of normal communication channels and common sense. Having to retrofit analyses and policy actions to match inadequately thought-out announcements in poorly scripted videos or page long X posts should not be how organizations responsible for the health of people should function. Some examples include the announcement of the change in the COVID-19 recommendations for children and pregnant people, the firing of scientists from ACIP by X post and an op-ed rather than direct communication with these valuable experts, the announcement of new ACIP members by X before onboarding and vetting have completed, and the release of term of reference for an ACIP workgroup that ignored all feedback from career staff at CDC.

The recent term of reference for the COVID vaccine work group created by this ACIP puts people of dubious intent and more dubious scientific rigor in charge of recommending vaccine policy to a director hamstrung and sidelined by an authoritarian leader. Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults. Their base should be the people they serve not a political voting bloc.

I have always been first to challenge scientific and public health dogma in my career and was excited by the opportunity to do so again. I was optimistic that there would be an opportunity to brief the Secretary about key topics such as measles, avian influenza, and the highly coordinated approach to the respiratory virus season. Such briefings would allow exchange of ideas and a shared path to support the vision of “Making America Healthy Again.” We are seven months into the new administration, and no CDC subject matter expert from my Center has ever briefed the Secretary. I am not sure who the Secretary is listening to, but it is quite certainly not to us. Unvetted and conflicted outside organizations seem to be the sources HHS use over the gold standard science of CDC and other reputable sources. At a hearing, Secretary Kennedy said that Americans should not take medical advice from him. To the contrary, an appropriately briefed and inquisitive Secretary should be a source of health information for the people he serves. As it stands now, I must agree with him, that he should not be considered a source of accurate information.

The intentional eroding of trust in low-risk vaccines favoring natural infection and unproven remedies will bring us to a pre-vaccine era where only the strong will survive and many if not all will suffer. I believe in nutrition and exercise. I believe in making our food supply healthier, and I also believe in using vaccines to prevent death and disability. Eugenics plays prominently in the rhetoric being generated and is derivative of a legacy that good medicine and science should continue to shun.

The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud. I am resigning because of the cowardice of a leader that cannot admit that HIS and his minions’ words over decades created an environment where violence like this can occur. I reject his and his colleagues’ thoughts and prayers, and advise they direct those to people that they have not actively harmed.

For decades, I have been a trusted voice for the LGBTQ community when it comes to critical health topics. I must also cite the recklessness of the administration in their efforts to erase transgender populations, cease critical domestic and international HIV programming, and terminate key research to support equity as part of my decision.

Public health is not merely about the health of the individual, but it is about the health of the community, the nation, the world. The nation’s health security is at risk and is in the hands of people focusing on ideological self-interest.

I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the opportunities for growth, learning, and collaboration that I have been afforded during my time at the CDC. It has been a privilege to work alongside such dedicated professionals who are committed to improving the health and well-being of communities across the nation even when under attack from within both physically and psychologically.

Thank you once again for the support and guidance I have received from you and previous CDC leadership throughout my tenure. I wish the CDC continued success in its vital mission and that HHS reverse its dangerous course to dismantle public health as a practice and as an institution. If they continue the current path, they risk our personal well-being and the security of the United States.

Sincerely,

Demetre C. Daskalakis MD MPH (he/his/him)
Aug 27, 2025 · 11:14 PM UTC

https://xcancel.com/dr_demetre/status/1960843433473376602

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetre_Daskalakis

[UTUSN]

15. K&R

[J-9]

16. This is a

💩show. Effing chaos.

[pfitz59]

17. Destroying generations of research

and proven effectiveness to salve the egos of a cabal of insane narcisscists. I feel for the next generation.

[slightlv]

18. I don't know impact it will have, but I'm liking that there

is pushback by people against trump now, rather than just carefully walking out of office. At some point, all his "policies" are going to be in so many different courts that everything will be tied up in knots and nothing will get done. That's probably a plus for us. If you can't stop a charging horse, maybe at least try to slow him down. In addition, we all know how much trump loves courts and being dragged through them, even if he doesn't have to personally show up, himself. So tying up what attorneys he has on a constant basis by people fighting to retain the elements of democracy they can has got to drive him nuts... maybe even closer to a stroke or heart attack after one of his rage events.