Susan Monarez, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was removed from her position on Wednesday, just weeks after being confirmed by the Senate. The announcement was made by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday.

The reason behind her sudden removal was not explained by the HHH officials in their post. The Trump administration and the CDC have not made comments on the matter so far. 

All about Susan Monarez

Monarez, 50, was the agency’s 21st director and the first to be appointed through Senate confirmation under a 2023 law mandating appointment by the President and Senate approval. 

She had served as the acting director since January and was formally nominated in March after President Donald Trump abruptly withdrew his first choice, David Weldon.

Monarez assumed office on 31 July, less than a month ago, which makes her the shortest-serving director of the United States’s top health agency in its 79-year history.

Before being appointed head of the CDC, Monarez, a federal scientist, was serving as the deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, a federal agency created during the Biden administration.

Why was she ousted?

Although there are no reports stating the exact reasons behind her sudden removal from her position, several theories have surfaced online about what could have led to her firing.

Brian Krassenstein, a popular pro-Democrat social media influencer, claimed that the firing may have been linked to Monarez’s views on pediatric vaccinations. “Reports indicate that this may have had to do with her views on pediatric vaccinations,” he wrote on X.

Meanwhile, others believe that Monarez was ousted following a report by Max Jones of The Chris Hedges Report, which highlighted her alleged past links to eugenics. The report claimed that Monarez is closely associated with re-branded eugenics, the militarisation of healthcare and the expansion of the bio-surveillance state.

“Oops could the sudden ouster of Susan Monarez—who was just confirmed as Trump’s CDC director last month—have anything to do with this killer exposé by Max Jones? ” another user asked on X. 

Monarez’s removal comes shortly after an open firing in Atlanta’s CDC headquarters on August 8. No one at the CDC building was injured despite the suspect repeatedly shooting towards the building. However, one DeKalb County police officer was killed in the shooting before the suspect ended up killing himself.

The suspect claimed that the COVID-19 vaccination made him depressed and suicidal. He killed a police officer and fired more than 180 shots into CDC buildings before killing himself, news agency BBC said in a report earlier.