Susan Monarez Faces Daunting Challenges as C.D.C. Director
Dr. Monarez, 50, has more than 20 years of government experience, and in that sense is more qualified than some recent C.D.C. directors — even if she's the first non-physician to be handed the role.
But it's not clear that decades in government will help her resist the unscientific policies and organizational chaos set in motion by her new bosses.
The Trump administration is dismembering the agency, firing thousands of employees and moving many of its core functions to a new entity, the Administration for a Healthy America, in Washington.
A leading vaccine skeptic, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is now the nation's health secretary. He has been voluble about what he sees as collusion between federal regulators, like those at the C.D.C., and the drug industry to hide the harms of vaccines from the public.
He has repeatedly undermined vaccines and has replaced members of an influential advisory committee on immunization policy with people whose skeptical views align with his own.
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