The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is at a crossroads. Last week, CDC Director Susan Monarez was ousted less than a month into her tenure after resisting Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s push to align with his vaccine policy agenda. Within hours, three senior leaders — including the chief medical officer and the heads of vaccine safety and respiratory infections — resigned in protest . Their exits capped weeks of mounting tension: biased scientific reviews, the withdrawal of key documents, and a shooting at CDC headquarters tied to COVID misinformation. Hundreds of staff publicly applauded the departing scientists in a rare "clap-out."

Into that vacuum stepped Jim O'Neill, deputy secretary of Health and Human Services, now installed as acting CDC director.

O'

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