During a heated Senate panel session on Wednesday, the former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Susan Monarez, unveiled startling accusations against Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. She recounted a tense private meeting just a week before her dismissal, where Kennedy allegedly labeled CDC staff as “corrupt” and charged them with “killing children.”
In a dramatic hearing before the Senate health committee, Dr. Monarez stated unequivocally that her termination stemmed from her unwavering commitment to “scientific integrity.” She detailed her refusal to comply with Kennedy’s directives, which included dismissing senior CDC scientists and endorsing vaccine guidelines from his chosen advisory panel without any supporting data or scientific evidence.
Dr. Monarez depicted Health Secretary Kennedy as deeply entrenched in his own ideological beliefs, showing little regard for the expertise of government scientists. She claimed he actively obstructed her from consulting with career CDC professionals and from engaging with senators, instead demanding that all decisions be funnelled through politically appointed staff.
Dr. Monarez underscored the grave implications of such actions: “If you’re willing to sign off on decisions that are not made with the best available data and evidence, it does put at risk our children. It puts at risk others who need these vaccines, and it takes us into a very dangerous place in public health.”
The revelations from Wednesday’s hearing brought to light the significant upheaval within the nation’s public health agency, a long-standing target of Secretary Kennedy. During a prior Senate appearance, Kennedy had defended his restructuring of the CDC, asserting: “We are the sickest country in the world. That’s why we have to fire people at C.D.C. They did not do their job. This was their job, to keep us healthy.”
Before the hearing, Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for Mr. Kennedy, refuted Dr. Monarez’s allegations. Nixon stated that Dr. Monarez was terminated for “maliciously undermining the president’s agenda,” emphasizing that the Health Secretary is committed to “restoring public trust in the C.D.C. by ensuring transparency, accountability, and diverse scientific input.”
Dr. Monarez, alongside Dr. Debra Houry, another former CDC official, provided a stark account of the chaos within the CDC. They highlighted a period marked by widespread layoffs, a tragic shooting at its Atlanta headquarters that claimed a police officer’s life, and the departure of several senior scientific figures. Dr. Houry, who served as the agency’s chief medical officer across four presidential terms, explicitly called for Mr. Kennedy’s resignation.
According to Dr. Houry, the CDC’s vaccine specialists were so profoundly shaken by the shooting incident that they now hesitate to attach their names to their scientific publications. Dr. Monarez further revealed that Mr. Kennedy failed to offer any condolences, and their subsequent conversation, three days post-shooting, occurred during his visit to the CDC headquarters.
This three-hour session took place just as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a crucial vaccine panel, was set to convene in Atlanta. ACIP’s recommendations typically guide insurance coverage for vaccines. However, in a significant pre-emptive move, an insurance trade group declared this week that coverage policies would remain unchanged, regardless of any new recommendations from the panel. These recommendations also impact the availability of no-cost vaccinations for children via the federal Vaccines for Children Program.
ACIP, usually comprising diverse vaccination experts, saw all 17 of its members dismissed by Mr. Kennedy this spring. He then appointed his own slate of advisors, many of whom echo his vaccine skepticism. Dr. Monarez confirmed she was not consulted on this drastic decision, as she was awaiting her own confirmation at the time.
Dr. Monarez testified that Mr. Kennedy had informed her of an impending change to the childhood vaccine schedule in September, asserting a lack of “science or evidence” supporting current recommendations. Notably, Mr. Kennedy and other critics have advocated for the CDC to withdraw its long-held advice for infants to receive the hepatitis B vaccine at birth.
Expressing deep concern about the meeting, Dr. Monarez stated, “I’m very nervous about it. There is real risk that recommendations could be made restricting access to vaccines for children and others in need without rigorous scientific review.”
Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and chairman of the Senate health committee, organized the hearing. Cassidy, a physician, is a staunch advocate for vaccines and had cast a pivotal vote that facilitated Mr. Kennedy’s confirmation.
However, Senator Cassidy faces a precarious political situation in his home state, dealing with a strong primary challenger from the conservative wing. Throughout Kennedy’s seven-month tenure, Cassidy has carefully navigated his position, oscillating between commending and critiquing the Health Secretary, with his recent criticisms becoming notably sharper.
Following the hearing, when asked if the public should trust any revised childhood vaccination schedule proposed by the advisory panel, Senator Cassidy firmly advised against it. The liver specialist shared with reporters that the hepatitis B vaccine, administered to newborns, has dramatically reduced annual cases of the disease in children from 20,000 to approximately 20.
Senator Cassidy maintained that he would “hold any judgment” until the health committee senators had the opportunity to hear directly from Mr. Kennedy. He refrained from indicating whether Dr. Monarez’s testimony or the Secretary’s earlier statements before another committee had swayed him more, merely suggesting the possibility of a follow-up hearing.
The senator expressed confidence, stating, “I’m confident that he’ll come and confident that he’ll share his perspective” regarding Mr. Kennedy’s future testimony.
In contrast, two other Republican physicians on the committee, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, voiced doubts regarding the CDC’s vaccination schedule and the scientific rigor supporting all its recommendations.
Senator Marshall directly confronted Dr. Monarez, declaring, “The biggest difference in philosophy that I see, is that I think the C.D.C. is the cause of vaccine hesitancy. You are the problem.”
This Wednesday hearing marked a significant first: it was the initial instance during Mr. Kennedy’s controversial term where former health officials under his leadership publicly critiqued his performance on Capitol Hill. The session starkly illustrated the unpredictable and often contradictory landscape of public health politics.
Ironically, some Republican senators who initially voted to confirm Dr. Monarez subsequently accused her of dishonesty. Three of them—Senators Markwayne Mullin, Jim Banks, and Ashley Moody—criticized her choice of Mark Zaid, an attorney known for his public opposition to President Trump, as her legal counsel.
Conversely, Democrats, who had unanimously opposed her confirmation, embraced Dr. Monarez as a champion. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, a Democrat, even offered a public apology.
Senator Kaine confessed, “I had concern about your backbone, and I was wrong. And I apologize to you for being wrong.”
Simultaneously, the hearing brought to the forefront questions about congressional authority. Dr. Monarez was the first CDC director requiring Senate confirmation—a law enacted post-pandemic. Senator Cassidy openly questioned the efficacy of the Senate confirming a nominee, only for that individual to be dismissed just 29 days later.
Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont and the committee’s ranking member, offered an even sharper critique.
Sanders challenged, “How did Dr. Monarez go from being a public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials who had the full confidence of Secretary Kennedy into being a liar and untrustworthy in less than a month?” He then supplied his own answer: “I think the answer is fairly obvious. Dr. Monarez was fired because she refused to act as a rubber stamp to implement Secretary Kennedy’s dangerous agenda.”
Despite Mr. Kennedy’s pledges of “radical transparency,” both Dr. Monarez and Dr. Houry informed senators that critical vaccine policy decisions were made without any public scientific discourse. Dr. Houry specifically recalled discovering the government’s decision against recommending the Covid-19 vaccine for healthy children and pregnant women via Mr. Kennedy’s post on X (formerly Twitter).
Dr. Houry explained her request for a formal memorandum and supporting data, stating she “couldn’t implement guidance based on a tweet.” However, this information was never provided. She further detailed instances where she had to promptly counter Kennedy’s misleading remarks that denigrated vaccines.
“He said things like, ‘vaccines had fetal parts,’ and I had to send a note to our leadership team to correct that misinformation,” Dr. Houry recounted. She clarified that while some vaccines historically utilized cell lines originating from aborted fetuses many decades ago, actual vaccines do not contain fetal tissue.
Both Dr. Monarez and Dr. Houry shared a profound concern for the future of public health, expressing fears that the United States is inadequately prepared for another pandemic.
Dr. Monarez issued a stern warning: should vaccine access diminish, preventable diseases would inevitably resurface, endangering American children. She highlighted that the U.S. has already experienced a measles resurgence this year, and whooping cough cases currently exceed pre-Covid pandemic levels.
Dr. Monarez reiterated her openness to adjusting vaccine recommendations, but strictly on the basis of robust data and evidence. Mr. Kennedy, she noted, held a conflicting perspective.
Her testimony revealed that on August 25, Mr. Kennedy instructed her to pre-approve all recommendations from the vaccine advisory panel, explicitly stating “without data or science.” Furthermore, she was told to terminate career officials involved in vaccine policy without justification. If she refused, Mr. Kennedy advised her to resign.
Dr. Monarez concluded her testimony with a powerful statement: “I could have stayed silent, agreed to the demands, and no one would have known. What the public would have seen were scientists dismissed without cause and vaccine protections quietly eroded, all under the authority of a Senate-confirmed director with unimpeachable credentials. I could have kept the office, the title, but I would have lost the one thing that cannot be replaced: my integrity.”