Driving the news: Anne Schuchat, the CDC's principal deputy director, will retire this summer, Politico first reported yesterday. Another top official, senior scientist Nancy Messonnier — who came under fire by the Trump administration for her early COVID warnings — said earlier this month she's also leaving the agency... The intrigue: Politico reported Schuchat "clashed with CDC director Rochelle Walensky in recent months." But Schuchat told STAT's Helen Branswell she'd been thinking of retirement for some time and felt she couldn't leave in the thick of the pandemic.