Susan Monarez, who was apparently ousted as CDC director on Wednesday afternoon after only weeks on the job, said hours later that she had not been fired and would not resign.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) posted a statement on X around 5:30 p.m. EST saying "Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

Less than two hours later, DC attorney Mark Zaid released a defiant statement on Monarez's behalf.

"When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted," the statement said.

"Dr. Monarez has neither resigned nor received notification from the White House that she has been fired, and as a person of integrity and devoted to science, she will not resign."

According to The New York Times, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Monarez to resign or be fired on Monday over tensions around vaccine policy.

Instead, Monarez reached out to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chair of the Senate health........

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