ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News has confirmed that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Susan Monarez is no longer with the agency.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Department of Health and Human Services said: “We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people. @SecKennedy has full confidence in his team at @CDCgov who will continue to be vigilant in protecting Americans against infectious diseases at home and abroad.”

HHS has not given a reason why Monarez has been removed as director.

On Wednesday evening, her lawyers Mark Zaid and Abbe David Lowell issued a statement that said she had neither resigned nor been told she was fired.

“When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted,” the attorneys wrote.

“This is not about one official. It is about the systematic dismantling of public health institutions, the silencing of experts, and the dangerous politicization of science. The attack on Dr. Monarez is a warning to every American: our evidence-based systems are being undermined from within,” they said.

Her departure coincided with the resignations of at least three top CDC officials. The list includes Dr. Debra Houry, the agency’s deputy director; Dr. Daniel Jernigan, head of the agency’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; and Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, head of its National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

In an email seen by an AP reporter, Houry lamented the crippling effects on the agency from planned budget cuts, reorganization plans and firings.

“I am committed to protecting the public’s health, but the ongoing changes prevent me from continuing in my job as a leader of the agency,” she wrote.

She also noted the rise of misinformation about vaccines during the current Trump administration, and alluded to new limits on CDC communications.

“For the good of the nation and the world, the science at CDC should never be censored or subject to political pauses or interpretations,” she wrote.

In a different email, Daskalakis wrote: “I am no longer able to serve in this role any longer because of the ongoing weaponization of public health.”

Monarez was the agency’s 21st director and the first to pass through Senate confirmation following a 2023 law. She was named acting director in January and then tapped as the nominee in March after Trump abruptly withdrew his first choice, David Weldon.

Monarez was sworn in as CDC Director on July 31, making her tenure at the CDC about four weeks, making her the shortest-serving CDC director in the history of the 79-year-old agency.

During that time, a man opened fire on the CDC, killing a DeKalb County police officer and damaging the exterior of several buildings on the CDC’s campus.

The gunman ended up killing himself on the second floor of a CVS pharmacy across the street.

Channel 2’s Linda Stouffer spoke with Monarez earlier this month about safety for the campus following that shooting.

“So what we’re doing is a full security assessment. So we had a number of measures already in place that were serving as a deterrent, and that gunman stayed further away than perhaps he could have otherwise gotten,” Monarez said.

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Stouffer asked if they have heard from the White House and if they have what they need from the administration to secure the CDC workers.

“We are getting all the resources that we need. We have had such a level of support from the administration. They want to make sure that not only are we getting what we need for the physical repairs, but also the emotional and the mental health repairs as well,” Monarez said.

Stouffer asked what Monarez would say to those worried about coming back to work.

“So my priority is on the health and wellness and safety of our staff, and that will include their physical security as well as their mental health and mental wellness,” Monarez responded.

Concerns about safety extend beyond physical security, as some CDC employees have expressed unease about the political climate. Hundreds of workers have signed a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., urging him to affirm the scientific integrity of the CDC.

The Atlanta-based federal agency was initially founded to prevent the spread of malaria in the U.S. Its mission was later expanded, and it gradually became a global leader on infectious and chronic diseases and a go-to source of health information.

This year it’s been hit by widespread staff cuts, resignations of key officials, and heated controversy over long-standing CDC vaccine policies upended by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

During her Senate confirmation process, Monarez told senators that she values vaccines, public health interventions, and rigorous scientific evidence. But she largely dodged questions about whether those positions put her at odds with Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic who has criticized and sought to dismantle some of the agency’s previous protocols and decisions.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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