OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
1:53 PM – Wednesday, July 30, 2025
The Senate has confirmed Susan Monarez as the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), appointing a “seasoned” government scientist to lead the agency amid sweeping reforms initiated by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Monarez, 50, is President Donald Trump’s second choice for the position and was confirmed by a vote of 51 to 47 on Tuesday.
The Trump administration is poised to reduce the agency’s budget by nearly 50% in 2026, resulting in the elimination of hundreds of staff positions.
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A new law passed in 2023, the CDC Leadership Accountability Act, now requires Senate confirmation for the position of CDC Director. Monarez is the first person to go through that process. Before that law, CDC directors could be appointed without Senate approval.
During her confirmation hearing, Monarez pandered to Democrat senators by asserting that “vaccines save lives,” while not mentioning the number of Americans who have suffered from vaccine-related injuries following the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. She also claimed that there is no credible scientific evidence linking vaccines to autism.
Nonetheless, Monarez navigated the proceedings cautiously, avoiding direct criticisms of her future boss.
In the past few months, medical professionals and “public health experts” have criticized Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for “compromising the agency” by revising vaccine guidelines and dismissing the entirety of a key advisory committee.
On the flip side, supporters of Kennedy have highlighted how medical professionals and other health experts are often funded by pharmaceutical companies through a variety of legal and regulated mechanisms. This funding can take many forms, raising concerns about conflicts of interest.
Kennedy unilaterally removed all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), installing his own appointees in their place. While CDC policy asks that the director formally approve ACIP recommendations, Kennedy has assumed that responsibility himself — as there has been no CDC director up until now.
Last month, Kennedy’s newly constituted Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to eliminate thimerosal—a mercury-containing compound once widely used as a preservative—from flu vaccines. Thimerosal is an organomercury compound, approximately 49% mercury by weight. In 1999, the U.S. Public Health Service and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended removing thimerosal from childhood vaccines to reduce overall mercury exposure.
Kennedy also previously circumvented agency protocols by unilaterally declaring that the HHS would cease recommending mRNA COVID-19 vaccines for healthy pregnant women and children.
Monarez brings nearly two decades of experience in federal service, having held positions across multiple agencies, though she had no prior affiliation with the CDC before being appointed.
Before assuming her leadership role at the CDC, Monarez served as deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. In addition, earlier in her career, she was a science and technology policy fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, marking her entry into public service.
Trump selected Monarez for the post after his initial nominee, former Florida GOP Representative Dave Weldon, failed to secure sufficient support among Senate Republicans.
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