Ex-CDC chief to be grilled over account of firing by RFK Jr.
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Monarez arriving for her confirmation hearing at the Senate health committee in June. Photo: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
Ousted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Susan Monarez is due to face tough questions Wednesday about her truthfulness and loyalty from Republican senators aligned with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., even as she warns of the further erosion of U.S. vaccination efforts.
Why it matters: The career government scientist, who has accused Kennedy of undercutting the agency's expertise, will make a high-profile appearance before the Senate's health committee to tell her side of what happened prior to her firing in August after less than a month on the job.
- The hearing will be a critical oversight opportunity just a day before Kennedy's handpicked vaccine advisers meet to debate recommendations for who should get COVID-19, MMR and hepatitis B vaccines.
Driving the news: While committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) has shown growing impatience with Kennedy and is likely to be sympathetic to Monarez, other Republicans on the panel are openly skeptical of her account of holding the line against his "sabotage" of the CDC.
- "I think it was right of her to leave the administration and frankly I'm glad she's gone," Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on Tuesday.
- Paul said he thinks Monarez's narrative around her firing for not rubber-stamping vaccine policy changes is "made up."
- Paul said he also had questions for Monarez about giving children COVID-19 and hepatitis B vaccines — areas where he's expressed skepticism in the past.
What they're saying: "At the end of the day she's a political appointee," said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), another GOP panel member close to the administration. "She serves at the pleasure of the president," he added, saying it is Trump's "prerogative" to fire her.
- Hawley questioned the need to hear from Monarez at all, saying, "I don't know how valuable these retrospective hearings are."
- In announcing the hearing last week, Cassidy struck a different note, saying, "To protect children's health, Americans need to know what has happened and is happening at the CDC."
Monarez intends to stand behind past statements and is expected to testify under oath that she was fired because she would not pre-approve vaccine policy changes from Kennedy's hand-picked advisers. Kennedy told a Senate Finance Committee hearing earlier this month that she was lying.
- According to her prepared remarks, Monarez will also say she was told to fire certain career CDC officials — a request Kennedy acknowledged during his appearance.
- The former CDC director will testify she told Kennedy at a late August meeting that "I could not pre-approve [vaccine] recommendations without reviewing the evidence, and I had no basis to fire scientific experts."
- Debra Houry, the CDC's former chief medical officer, will also appear before the panel to testify that she resigned because Kennedy "repeatedly censored CDC science, politicized our processes, and stripped agency leaders of the ability to protect the health of the American people," according to her written testimony.
What's next: Monarez also will issue a warning about the CDC vaccine advisory committee meeting coming on Thursday and Friday, which is being closely watched for further rollbacks to vaccine recommendations.
- "There is real risk that recommendations could be made restricting access to vaccines for children and others in need without rigorous scientific review," she will say according to her prepared remarks.
- "With no permanent CDC director in place, those recommendations could be adopted."
