The simmering showdown between US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the leadership of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has finally boiled over.

The White House said on Wednesday that CDC director Susan Monarez was fired — and Monarez’s representatives quickly responded that she wouldn’t leave her post without a fight. In protest of the ousting and Kennedy’s leadership, four senior CDC leaders resigned.

The tension had been building for months. Once Kennedy took the helm of US Health and Human Services, he laid off thousands of workers at the CDC and other health agencies. He has rolled back longstanding vaccine policies over the objections of many experts inside and outside of the CDC. Then, earlier this month, a man angry about the COVID-19 vaccines fired nearly 2

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