Top US public health agency loses number of key officials as director ousted weeks into the job. Key US politics stories from Wednesday 27 August at a glance
The leading US public health agency faced a number of top-level resignations on Wednesday after its director was ousted from her job, with one departing official reportedly saying he was leaving “because of the ongoing weaponization of public health”.
US officials announced CDC director Susan Monarez had left her role just weeks after being sworn in. This was followed by the resignations of three senior CDC officials – Dr Debra Houry, the chief medical officer, Dr Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, and Dr Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
Daskalakis told colleagues “I am not able to serve in this role any longer because of the ongoing weaponization of public health”, according to an email obtained by STAT, a health news site.
Houry echoed his concerns and wrote that “ongoing changes prevent me from continuing in my job as a leader of the agency”, adding that science should “never be censored or subject to political interpretations”.
