The attempted ousting of the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and resignations of 4 high-profile officers on Wednesday had been the newest developments in turmoil that has been plaguing the federal well being company.
Over the previous few months, the CDC has seen a number of resignations, mass layoffs, shakeups of key committees and main adjustments in vaccine coverage.
On the heart is Well being and Human Companies (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has claimed he desires to revive belief within the CDC and weed out alleged corruption.
Here’s a timeline of adjustments which have occurred at CDC.
Bullet holes are seen in home windows on the Facilities For Illness Management (CDC) International Headquarters following a capturing that left two useless, on August 9, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Photos
Nov. 22, 2024
Then-President-elect Donald Trump nominates Dr. Dave Weldon to guide the CDC.
Jan. 23, 2025
Trump selects Susan Monarez to be performing CDC director.
Susan Monarez, nominee to be the Director of the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention testifies throughout her affirmation listening to earlier than the Senate Committee on Well being, Schooling, Labor, and Pensions, June 25, 2025 in Washington.
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Photos
Feb. 18, 2025
Dr. Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the CDC, resigns, saying he made the choice to depart independently, in accordance with local reports. Shah led the CDC’s fowl flu response.
March 13, 2025
The White Home pulls the nomination of Weldon for CDC director forward of his look earlier than the Senate Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee as a result of he did not have the votes to be confirmed.
Weldon was anticipated to be grilled on his previous feedback questioning vaccine security, corresponding to falsely suggesting vaccines are linked to autism.
Former Congressman Dr. David Weldon speaks in The Villages, Fla., on Could 31, 2012.
Brendan Farrington/AP
March 24, 2025
Monarez is nominated by Trump to be CDC director. The president writes on Truth Social that she brings “many years of expertise championing Innovation, Transparency, and robust Public Well being Techniques.”
March 25, 2025
5 high-level CDC officers depart from the company, in a transfer described as “retirements,” in accordance with the Associated Press.
The departures included:
- Leslie Ann Dauphin, founding director of the Nationwide Heart for State, Tribal, Native, and Territorial Public Well being Infrastructure and Workforce.
- Karen Remley, director of the Nationwide Heart on Beginning Defects and Developmental Disabilities.
- Sam Posner, head of the Workplace of Science.
- Debra Lubar, chief working officer.
- Leandris Liburd, performing director for the Workplace of Well being Fairness.
April 1, 2025
Mass layoffs begin at HHS, affecting greater than 10,000 folks. This consists of about 2,400 CDC workers, which is about one-fifth of the workforce.
April 3, 2025
Kennedy broadcasts that some packages and workers can be reinstated as a result of they were mistakenly cut. This consists of the division on the CDC that handles lead surveillance.
It is later revealed the HHS hired back greater than 450 CDC workers who had been fired.
Could 27, 2025
Kennedy introduced the CDC will no longer be recommending the COVID-19 vaccine for “wholesome youngsters and pregnant girls.”
The CDC later updates the steering to a “shared scientific choice making” mannequin — leaving the choice to vaccinate between sufferers or mother and father and a health care provider.
June 5, 2025
Dr. Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos, who oversaw the CDC’s suggestions for COVID-19 vaccines, resigns after mixed messages over who can be eligible for vaccines.
June 9, 2025
Kennedy removes all 17 members of CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP), which makes suggestions on the security, efficacy and scientific want of vaccines.
Kennedy says changing the sitting committee members would assist restore public belief and claims they had been suffering from conflicts of curiosity.
Secretary of Well being and Human Companies Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks throughout a cupboard assembly with President Donald Trump within the Cupboard Room of the White Home in Washington, August 26, 2025.
Mandel Ngan/AFP through Getty Photos
June 11, 2025
Kennedy appoints eight hand-selected members to take a seat on the ACIP, together with some who’ve expressed vaccine-skeptic views.
June 16, 2025
Dr. Fiona Havers, who led the CDC’s monitoring of hospitalizations from COVID-19 and RSV, resigns, citing issues over how the information may very well be used to form nationwide vaccine coverage, in accordance with Reuters.
June 25, 2025
In ACIP’s first meeting since Kennedy replaced all the members, the committee says will probably be reviewing the present childhood immunization schedule.
June 26, 2025
ACIP recommends an RSV monoclonal antibody shot for infants however recommends against flu vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal.
Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative, which is used to forestall microbial contamination of vaccines. Most flu vaccines at the moment used within the U.S. comprise little to no thimerosal, however each the Meals and Drug Administration and the CDC say there isn’t a proof low doses of thimerosal in vaccines trigger hurt apart from minor reactions on the injection website, corresponding to redness or swelling.
July 29, 2025
The Senate confirms Monarez as CDC director by a vote of 51-47 alongside social gathering strains.
She is the primary CDC director nominee who required Senate affirmation after Congress handed a regulation requiring it in 2022.
Aug. 8, 2025
A gunman opens fire at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, ensuing within the demise of a police officer. Investigators and sources near the gunman later stated he was harboring a years-long grievance towards the COVID-19 vaccine.
Aug. 12, 2025
Monarez sends a note to the company’s more than 10,000 employees, linking misinformation to the lethal capturing at CDC.
Aug. 27, 2025
HHS sends out a publish on X stating that Monarez is “no longer director” of the CDC.
Sources inform ABC Information that Kennedy and Stefanie Spear, his principal deputy chief of workers, referred to as on Monarez to assist adjustments to COVID vaccine coverage and the firings of high-level workers, a supply acquainted with the conversations advised ABC Information, which Monarez wouldn’t decide to.
Attorneys for Monarez state she is not going to go away her publish and that, as a result of she was appointed by Congress, Trump has to personally dismiss her.
The White Home, which has the authority to dismiss Monarez, adopted up late Wednesday evening with an announcement saying Monarez was certainly “terminated.”
Following HHS’s assertion about Monarez’s departure, 4 different senior profession officers on the CDC additionally resign:
- Dr. Deb Houry, Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Director for Program and Science.
- Dr. Dan Jernigan, Director of the Nationwide Heart for Rising and Zoonotic Infectious Illnesses.
- Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, Director of the Nationwide Heart for Immunization and Respiratory Illnesses.
- Dr. Jennifer Layden, Director for the Workplace of Public Well being Information, Surveillance, and Know-how.
In a departure electronic mail to colleagues, Daskalakis writes that he’ll not serve in his function “due to the continued weaponizing of public well being.”
Turmoil at CDC
CDC.gov, HHS.gov, WhiteHouse.gov
Aug. 28, 2025
Monarez’s attorneys say she has nonetheless not heard straight from the president on the matter and has not had any additional communications with the White Home because the earlier night.
The White Home named Well being and Human Companies Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill as the interim director Thursday night.
ABC Information’ Will McDuffie, Sony Salzman and Dr. Jade Cobern contributed to this report.
