Mass Resignations and Escorts: Top CDC Officials Exit Amidst Dispute Over Agency’s Direction and Scientific Integrity

Key officials who resigned from their positions at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) following the ousting of the agency’s director were escorted out of the building on Thursday morning, only to be celebrated by CDC staffers in the afternoon.

Before a gathering outside the Atlanta headquarters, some declared their intent to become the strongest advocates for scientists and experts.

Dr. Deb Houry, chief medical officer; Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, head of vaccines and respiratory diseases; Dr. Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; and data chief Dr. Jennifer Layden announced their resignations on Wednesday. Although they had already been escorted out by Thursday—Houry emphasizing that they were accompanied by friends—staffers still congregated outside the agency’s main office in Atlanta for a tribute known as a “clap out.”

“What makes CDC exceptional are the individuals who make up this organization, the scientists, everyone who contributes to creating a family. This family protects our nation and the health of its citizens—be it through vaccines, preventing overdose, managing chronic disease, or stopping outbreaks like Ebola at their source rather than when they reach our shores,” Daskalakis addressed the crowd. “You are the individuals who safeguard America, and America needs to see that you are the ones who protect America; we will be your most vocal advocates.”

Dr. Daniel Pollock, who retired in 2021 after 37 years at the CDC, described Wednesday’s events as “unprecedented.”

“What’s at stake here is not only the future of Americans’ health and wellbeing but the future of international health and wellbeing, because so much of what the CDC develops—be it laboratory tests, be it guidelines, be it advice about how to address a public health problem—is used globally. And right now, that’s being compromised,” he told CNN during Thursday’s event. “It will be very challenging to restore what’s being damaged as a result of these personnel changes.”

The Health and Human Services (HHS) department has yet to respond to CNN’s request for comment regarding the officials who resigned.

The upheaval at the CDC occurs amidst the Senate Committee on Finance’s announcement that US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will testify on September 4 about President Donald Trump’s health agenda.

Kennedy has never received a briefing on measles, Covid-19, or flu from CDC experts, Daskalakis revealed on Thursday.

“No one from my department has ever briefed him on these topics,” he told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. “He’s obtaining information from somewhere, but that information is not coming from CDC experts—who are truly the world’s foremost experts in this area. … He hasn’t accepted our offers to brief him.”

The US has experienced more measles cases this year than in any other year since the disease was declared eradicated in 2000, largely due to an outbreak that started in West Texas and primarily affected unvaccinated individuals. Kennedy faced criticism during this outbreak for advocating for vitamin A and steroid budesonide treatments over the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.

HHS did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment on Daskalakis’ claim.

Houry informed Collins that Dr. Susan Monarez, who was replaced as the agency’s director on Wednesday, “was deeply committed to the CDC and wished to remain. I believe we all feel the same way. We want to stay, believe in the mission, but when things can’t work out, sometimes it’s best to leave a statement.”

The scientists also expressed uncertainty over who is making decisions.

“I’ve been with CDC for 30 years,” Jernigan said. “I’ve navigated through multiple administrations. We’ve collaborated with various individuals, different ideologies, but we always prioritized science. Now, I’m not sure who will be making those decisions, given Dr. Monarez’s departure. However, I understand that a significant portion of the data we base our decisions on is coming from the White House and HHS. So I don’t know where we’re headed next, but I do know that the CDC’s mission is to safeguard Americans.”

Data generated by CDC scientists can be trusted, Houry assured, but she would harbor concerns about any information originating from the administration that hasn’t been vetted or approved by those scientists. However, she noted, making this distinction may be challenging due to Kennedy’s “personal spin.”

In a Thursday appearance on Fox News, Kennedy spoke little about the upheaval at the CDC, stating it was inappropriate to discuss “personnel matters.”

“There’s really a deeply ingrained malaise at the agency, and we need strong leadership that can execute President Trump’s broad ambitions for this organization,” Kennedy said. “It may be that some individuals should no longer be part of it.”

Daskalakis suggested that—especially in light of a shooting at this agency’s main campus this month that left a police officer dead—the issues originate from the top.

“I think the CDC is filled with exceptional scientists and experts,” he told Collins. “If the CDC is being characterized as troubled by Secretary Kennedy, I believe we must reflect that mirror back to him, because I believe the problems are stemming primarily from him. I believe the disregard for experts, the clear statement that experts should not be trusted, suggests it’s unlikely his mission for CDC is to be a bastion of scientific expertise.

“Additionally, I think that his response to what transpired when we were attacked really traumatized an already traumatized organization. So I don’t wish to call it troubled; I think that the CDC has made such progress in transforming itself after the pandemic, and that progress is being dismantled.”

On Wednesday night, a White House spokesperson stated that the White House had terminated Monarez from her position.

Monarez’s attorneys, Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell, rejected the notification she received.

“Our client was informed tonight by White House staff in the personnel office that she was fired. As a presidential appointee, senate-confirmed officer, only the president himself can fire her,” Zaid and Lowell stated. “For this reason, we reject the notification Dr. Monarez received as legally deficient; she remains as CDC Director. We have notified the White House Counsel of our position.”

Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O’Neill is expected to serve as acting CDC director, sources informed CNN on Thursday.

As CDC leaders prepare to bid farewell to the agency, the medical community grapples with these changes.

“Last night’s removal of CDC Director Susan Monarez and the resignations of other CDC leaders are deeply concerning at a challenging time for public health,” Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement. “This instability comes at a time when the CDC’s credibility and leadership are more crucial than ever.”

“Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is systematically dismantling the public health infrastructure that protects us from pandemics and vaccine-responsive diseases like Covid-19,” wrote Dr. Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, regarding the departures.