Susan Monarez, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told senators Wednesday that she was fired last month after just 29 days on the job “for holding the line on scientific integrity” by refusing demands made by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that she said “were inconsistent with my oath of office and the ethics required of a public official.”
Monarez testified that she refused Kennedy’s request that she pre-approve the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel he had installed and do so “regardless of the scientific evidence.” She said she also rebuffed his demand that she fire “without cause” career scientists responsible for vaccine policy.
“Even under pressure, I could not replace evidence with ideology or compromise my integrity,” Monarez said. “Vaccine policy must be guided by credible data, not predetermined outcomes.”
Kennedy has come under fire for the drastic changes he is overseeing at the nation’s health agencies, with experts charging that he is pursuing a dangerous anti-vaccine ideological agenda that ignores scientific and medical consensus.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who is the ranking member on the Senate health committee, said that Wednesday’s hearing was about more than just determining why Monarez was fired. “The issue is deeper than that,” he said in opening remarks. “It is about Secretary Kennedy’s dangerous war on science, public health and the truth itself. Unacceptably, we now have an HHS secretary who does not believe in established science and who listens to conspiracy theorists and ideologues rather than doctors and medical professionals. It is absurd to have to say this in the year 2025 but vaccines are safe and effective. That, of course, is not just my view. Far more importantly, it is the overwhelming consensus of the medical and scientific communities.”
Monarez also testified that:
* Kennedy told her the childhood vaccination schedule would change starting in September and that he had spoken with the White House multiple times about the vaccine schedule and about having her removed;
* Kennedy asked her to meet with Aaron Siri, a lawyer who petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to remove its approval of the polio vaccine;
* Kennedy’s office told her that she would have to have political staff sign off on policy and personnel decisions.
She also described a meeting during which she said Kennedy blasted the CDC, calling it “the most corrupt federal agency in the world” and claiming that its staff was “bought by the pharmaceutical industry” and was “killing children.”
Kennedy has defended his overhaul of the CDC and other agencies he leads, arguing that they have failed to keep America healthy. He told senators at a hearing earlier this month that he ousted Monarez because she told him she was not trustworthy.
Some Republicans on the Senate panel backed Kennedy’s criticisms of the CDC’s track record, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, and questioned official vaccine guidance. Some Republicans also criticized Monarez for hiring Mark Zaid, a lawyer known for speaking out against President Trump, to be her attorney.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky questioned the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccine in children and the need for giving the Hepatitis B vaccine to newborns. “The burden is upon you, and the people you wouldn’t fire to prove to us that we need to give our 6-month-old Covid vaccine and that we need to give our 1-day-old a hepatitis B vaccine,” he said. “That’s what the debate ought to be about — not whether all vaccines are good, or whether we live in Alice in Wonderland.”
Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas, who is an OB/GYN, said that Monarez’s belief system did not align with Kennedy’s or the president’s. “The biggest difference in philosophy that I see, is that I think the CDC is the cause of vaccine hesitancy. That you are the problem,” Marshall said.
Monarez defended the CDC and said that the agency’s recommendations are not mandates. “The childhood vaccine schedule has been vetted and validated,” she said. “I think that every parent should have the opportunity to talk to their pediatrician and make sure that they understand the benefits and the risks of those vaccines and what is in the best interest of their children.”
Dr. Debra Houry, the former chief medical officer at the CDC who was one of three top officials to resign last month, also testified before the Senate panel. She said that Kennedy’s policies were putting American lives at risk and called for him to resign.
Asked what keeps her up at night, Monarez said she worries about the next pandemic outbreak. “I don’t believe that we’ll be prepared,” she said. Houry offered a similar answer: “I’m concerned about the future of CDC and public health in our country. Given what I have seen, we are not prepared, not just for pandemics but for preventing chronic health disease, and we’re going to see kids dying of vaccine-preventable diseases.”
What’s next: Kennedy’s reconstituted vaccine advisory panel will meet Thursday and Friday. Monarez warned about the potential outcome. “There is real risk that recommendations could be made restricting access to vaccines for children and others in need without rigorous scientific review,” she said.