The war is on.

The White House on Wednesday fired Susan Monarez as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after she refused to resign amid pressure to change vaccine policy, which sparked the resignation of other senior CDC officials and a showdown over whether she could be removed.

Hours after the Department of Health and Human Services announced early Wednesday evening that Monarez was no longer the director, her lawyers responded with a fiery statement saying she had not resigned or been fired. They accused HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of “weaponizing public health for political gain” and “putting millions of American lives at risk” by purging health officials from government.

Junior Robert Kennedy is evil.

“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,” the lawyers, Mark S. Zaid and Abbe Lowell, wrote in a statement. “For that reason, she has been targeted.”

Soon after their statement, the White House formally fired Monarez.

Because Trump wants cranks and lunatics and ass-kissers in charge of public health instead of people who have expertise in public health.

Since taking office, Kennedy has upended the government’s approach to vaccination, including firing every member of an advisory committee that recommends vaccines, terminating research funding for mRNA vaccines and reviving a task force to scrutinize the childhood immunization schedule.

Because epidemics are so much more fun than no epidemics.