Enough is enough

Dr. Susan Monarez has not resigned—and we do not want her to.  

RFK Jr. has demanded something so dangerous, that when CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez pushed back, he tried to publicly fire her—driving four other high-ranking CDC leaders to email their resignations. 

In a shocking tweet this evening, HHS stated Dr. Susan Monarez is “no longer director” at CDC. Yet, according to her lawyers, she was neither informed nor officially removed and is instead being targeted when she “refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public.”  

We commend her, not just for doing the right thing, but for doing the hard thing by standing against disinformation. She chose science over politics. This is the leader that CDC needs and our nation deserves. 

Earlier today, we were shocked to hear of the sudden resignation of multiple experienced public health leaders at CDC—people who devoted their lives to preserving, protecting, and promoting the health of the American people. Many felt forced to walk away from the jobs they loved because politics left them no choice. They deserve our thanks and our respect. After Dr. Monarez’s statement that she is not resigning, we hope some of these leaders can remain if they choose. We look forward to continuing the fight alongside them. Once again, the chaos this evening occurred with an unsurprising lack of transparency. But the motives themselves are crystal clear: public health itself is under attack. 

• We see it in the bullet holes in our buildings.  

• We see it in the mass firings of our workforce.  

• We see it in the silencing of our scientists and the muzzling of our communicators.  

• We see it in the attacks on our unions. 

  
  

We make this final statement not as a workforce issue, or as a political issue, but because it protects our great nation and it is true:  Vaccines save lives. Public health—chronic disease and violence prevention, HIV treatment, food safety monitoring, and more—saves lives. And the people who say this should not be fired, forced to resign, or shot at, for saying so.

There is always a time for serious, science-based discussions about each vaccine, but that cannot happen by silencing scientists, firing the experts who protect us, or spreading disinformation disguised as research. Public health cannot be subordinate to the partisan demands of politicians, and their desire to find scapegoats for their failures. 

AFGE Local 2883 stands firmly with Dr. Monarez, with our colleagues at CDC, and with every public health worker who refuses to compromise truth for politics. 

In Solidarity, 

AFGE Local 2883