ATLANTA — Hours after reports surfaced that Jim O’Neill would replace Susan Monarez as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed the move directly to staff in an internal letter obtained by 11Alive News.

The message, sent to employees at the CDC’s Atlanta headquarters Thursday night, makes it the first on-the-record confirmation from Kennedy himself following days of silence from the White House.

“I am pleased to announce that Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill is now also serving as Acting Director of the CDC,” Kennedy wrote in the email.

Kennedy said he and President Donald Trump are aligned on a “commonsense vision” for the CDC: strengthening public health infrastructure, investing

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