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President Donald Trump has fired Susan Monarez as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), less than a month after her Senate confirmation, amid a series of resignations and concerns over the agency's upcoming vaccine meeting. A senior administration official says Jim O’Neill, Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services, will be the new acting CDC director.Several top CDC officials have resigned, citing Monarez's ouster as the final straw, which has shaken trust in the nation's top health agency, even among Republicans. The turmoil triggered rare bipartisan alarm as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., tries to advance anti-vaccine policies that are contradicted by decades of scientific research.Sen. Bill Cassidy, who chairs the committee overseeing Monarez's confirmation hearings, said the leadership turmoil is so severe that the CDC's upcoming vaccine meeting should be postponed. “Serious allegations have been made about the meeting agenda, membership, and lack of scientific process being followed for the now announced September ACIP meeting. These decisions directly impact children’s health, and the meeting should not occur until significant oversight has been conducted. If the meeting proceeds, any recommendations made should be rejected as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership,” Cassidy said.These concerns follow the dismissal of the CDC's original vaccine panel by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in June, who later installed members more skeptical of vaccines. Sec. Kennedy has not explained the decision to oust Monarez but warned that more turnover could be coming. “There’s a lot of trouble at the CDC, and it’s going to require getting rid of some people over the long term, in order for us to change the institutional culture,” Kennedy said at a news conference in Texas.Monarez's lawyers argue that she was pushed out for refusing to "rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts." The White House said Monarez was removed because she didn't align with the president's agenda. White House Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said, "The president and the Secretary Kennedy are committed to restoring trust, and transparency, and credibility to the CDC by ensuring their leadership and their decisions are more public-facing, more accountable, strengthening our public health system, and restoring it to its core mission of protecting Americans from communicable diseases."The vaccine panel is set to happen in September, and the White House has been contacted for a response to Cassidy's request that it be postponed.