WASHINGTON — Jim O’Neill, deputy to health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., will become acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after Susan Monarez was suddenly ousted from her role on Wednesday, a White House official confirmed in an email.
O’Neill was sworn in as deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in June, charged with overseeing the department’s day-to-day operations and the operations of all its sub-agencies, whose missions include running the Medicare and Medicaid program, leading public health emergency preparedness, shaping federal research, and more.
On Thursday, O’Neill shared a post on social media that seemed to support the decision to oust Monarez and blamed the CDC itself for the public’s lack of trust in health auth