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The Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after his first choice struggled to gain support.
Susan Monarez, a longtime fixture in Washington who has taken on leadership positions in a number of government public health roles, was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday, crossing yet another position off the lengthy and growing number of nominees awaiting confirmation.
Monarez was confirmed on a 51 to 47 party line vote.
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Across her roughly two-decade career in D.C., she has served as deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health within the Department of Health and Human Services and in roles at the White House, including at the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Security Council.
She is the first CDC director to undergo the Senate confirmation process after a new law changed the requirement in 2023. Prior to her confirmation, Monarez had served as the acting director of the CDC since the beginning of this year.
But Monarez, who has a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology, was not Trump’s first pick to lead the public health agency, which is tasked with protecting Americans from public health threats.
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Trump tapped Monarez in March shortly after withdrawing his nomination of Dr. David Weldon, a former House member, after it was clear that he couldn’t get enough votes from Senate Republicans to make it across the finish line.
He lauded Monarez’s credentials, and charged that Americans had “lost confidence” in the CDC.
“Dr. Monarez will work closely with our GREAT Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert Kennedy Jr,” he said on social media at the time. “Together, they will prioritize Accountability, High Standards, and Disease Prevention to finally address the Chronic Disease Epidemic and, MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN!”
But questions also linger on how well Monarez and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might work together.
During her confirmation hearing last month, Senate Democrats grilled Monarez over whether she agreed with Kennedy’s positions on vaccines. Kennedy has long been outspoken about his skepticism regarding vaccines, particularly COVID-19 vaccines.
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The CDC has been hit with thousands of staff cuts and resignations and subject to changes in vaccine policy — notably Kennedy’s decision to remove the COVID-19 from the vaccine schedule for pregnant women and healthy children — in the last six months.
“I think vaccines save lives. I think that we need to continue to support the promotion of utilization of vaccines,” Monarez said during her confirmation hearing.
Her confirmation also comes as Kennedy, in his budget request for the HHS, seeks a slash in funding to the CDC of nearly 50%, or from about $9.2 billion to $4.2 billion, for the upcoming fiscal year.
But Kennedy made clear in an X post at the time of her nomination that he supports Monarez to take on the position.
“I handpicked Susan for this job because she is a longtime champion of MAHA values, and a caring, compassionate and brilliant microbiologist and a tech wizard who will reorient CDC toward public health and gold-standard science,” he said. “I’m so grateful to President Trump for making this appointment.”
And an HHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “Once Dr. Monarez is confirmed, the Secretary looks forward to working with her to advance common-sense policies that will Make America Healthy Again.”
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