White House names Jim O’Neill as replacement for director of US CDC

The White House has named Jim O’Neill as the replacement for the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a day after its previous leader was forced out of the job. Jim O’Neill currently serves as the deputy to Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, and will replace Susan Monarez after she was in the role for just a month. Lawyers representing Dr Monarez said her sacking was illegal, and alleged she was targeted by Kennedy because she refused ‘to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives’.