Purge At CDC Has Major Implications For Agency And Public Health

WASHINGTON, DC: Susan Monarez, former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was fired by President Trump, purportedly for opposing Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine policies.(Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images) Getty Images

President Trump fired Susan Monarez last week from her position as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after just one month on the job. This coincided with a number of high-profile exits at the agency.

The purge at CDC and other agencies under the Department of Health and Human Services coupled with deep cuts in funding of public health programs have major implications for the agency’s future and the nation’s public health apparatus. There’s the politicization aspect, in which agen