Ousted CDC Director Shares Her Take on What Transpired

Former CDC Director Susan Monarez appeared before the Senate on Wednesday, detailing the circumstances of her unexpected firing less than a month after her Senate confirmation. Monarez testified that she was removed for refusing to follow directives from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., specifically his order to accept vaccine advisory panel recommendations absent relevant data or science that backed the changes and to fire senior staff overseeing vaccine policy, ABC News reports. "I was fired for holding the line on scientific integrity," Monarez told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. She said Kennedy wanted "blanket approval" of policy changes.

• Kennedy has denied Monarez's account, telling senators earlier this month she was dismissed because she allegedly said "no" when he asked her if she was a "trustworthy person." She gave a different account of the exchange on Wednesday. "I had refused to commit to approving vaccine recommendations without evidence, fire career officials without cause, or resign—and I had shared my concerns with this committee," she said, per the Washington Post. "I told the secretary that if he believed he could not trust me, he could fire me."
• She told senators that Kennedy told her he spoke to President Trump "every day" about changing the childhood vaccine schedule, but he "did not have any data or science to point to." She said she told Kennedy she'd be open to changing the schedule "if the evidence or science were supportive, and he responded that there was no science or evidence associated with the childhood vaccine schedule."

• Monarez also testified that Kennedy made false accusations against CDC employees, saying they were "bought by the pharmaceutical industry" and didn't care about killing children, the Post reports. "And the one I think that hurt me the most was a particularly vivid phrase: He said during the COVID outbreak, CDC told hospitals to turn away sick COVID patients until they had blue lips before allowing them to get treatment," she said.
• She testified that diseases like polio and whooping cough could be set to make a comeback in the US, the AP reports. "I believe preventable diseases will return, and I believe we will have our children harmed by things they don't need to be harmed by," Monarez said. She warned that under Kennedy, America's public health system is headed to a "very dangerous place."

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The dispute comes amid broader upheaval at the CDC, including mass resignations and concerns about dramatic shifts in vaccine policy. Several top CDC officials resigned in protest following Monarez's exit. The Senate hearing highlighted bipartisan unease with Kennedy's approach, as both Republican and Democratic senators questioned the lack of scientific rationale behind the swift policy changes. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, the committee's chair, asked Monarez, "To be clear, he said there was not science or data, but that he still expected you to change the schedule?" She replied, "Correct." Cassidy noted that during Monarez's confirmation hearing, Kennedy had praised her "unimpeachable scientific credentials."