Recently ousted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Susan Monarez is set to tell senators she was pressured to endorse new vaccine recommendations that could limit their availability for children in a hearing as the nation’s health agency undergoes significant changes.
Monarez was ousted from her position last month after she was given an ultimatum to approve new vaccine recommendations from a CDC advisory panel mired in controversy after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filled posts with medical experts who question vaccine safety or lose her job, according to prepared remarks.
“Even under pressure, I could not replace evidence with ideology or compromise my integrity,” Monarez will say in her opening testimony. “Vaccine policy must be guided by credible data, not predetermined outcomes.”
Monarez will also claim Kennedy directed her to fire multiple high-level officials without cause.
Senators will also hear from Dr. Debra Houry, who was the CDC’s chief medical officer until she quit in frustration. Houry is reportedly set to tell the committee that Kennedy “repeatedly censored” science and “politicized our processes.”
for his handling of the CDC and his stances on vaccines that was subject of a heated hearing earlier this month, where he also said Monarez was untrustworthy and that officials who left the agency in support of her deserved to be fired.
The hearing comes as the in Atlanta to discuss vaccines for COVID-19, hepatitis B and chickenpox.