Ousted CDC chief Susan Monarez testifies before the Senate health committee today, putting Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s leadership under fresh scrutiny.
Monarez plans to tell senators that Kennedy ordered her to get HHS political aides’ approval for CDC decisions — a departure from past policy, according to Bloomberg. Kennedy fired Monarez last month, soon after her confirmation, and later told senators she wasn’t “trustworthy.” But despite Trump’s support for Kennedy’s more polarizing moves, including the installation of vaccine skeptics on the CDC’s vaccine panel, several Republicans have raised questions about rolling back childhood and other vaccination standards.
Health committee member Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told Semafor that Chair Bill Cassidy, R-La., deserves “a lot of credit” for inviting testimony on the implications “for the public’s ability to have confidence in the recommendations of the CDC.”