Former CDC officials say Kennedy Jr. has made children less safe, politicized health
Two high-ranking former members of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention each said Thursday they are concerned preventable diseases for children will needlessly return under what they characterized as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s politicization of health science.
Susan Monarez, who led the government agency for just 29 days this summer, told the Senate's health committee that she was given two ultimatums from Kennedy, the health secretary, neither of which she could support.
The orders included firing some high-ranking, career CDC officials without cause, and to pre-approve vaccine recommendations from an advisory panel that Kennedy earlier this year had completely restocked with his own selections.
"Even under pressure, I could not replace evidence with ideology or compromise my integrity," she said.
Kennedy, at a contentious hearing two weeks ago, described Monarez as admitting to him that she was "untrustworthy," an accusation that stunned some members of the congressional panel, and which Monarez has since said was not true. At Wednesday's session, she said Kennedy was upset she shared details of a conversation they had with CDC deputies, deeming her not trustworthy in the process.
Kennedy has emphasized child health as health secretary, expressing a desire to overhaul nutrition guidelines in addition to vaccine schedule changes. Monarez said she once believed in Kennedy's intentions, but said Wednesday he should resign given what she saw as dishonesty in his committee appearance on Sept. 4.
Kennedy did not testify under oath at the earlier hearing, something Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said he could not remember happening before for a health secretary before the panel.
While the hearing wasn't marked by outbursts, Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma alarmed both Sanders and committee chair Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, also a Republican, near the end of the session.
Mullin said he believed Monarez was being dishonest in her recounting of the Kennedy meeting, suggesting there was a recording before leaving the panel after his allotted question time.
Cassidy questioned why the meeting would have been recorded, and said Mullin should help bring any recording to the committee or retract his line of questioning. Minutes later, Cassidy advised the panel Mullin had told reporters outside the hearing that he was "mistaken" in suggesting there was a recording.
Hurt by Kennedy accusationsMonarez said her only extensive sit-down with her boss was two weeks after a gunman struck CDC headquarters in Atlanta with 180 rounds. She said Kennedy never called to extend his sympathies on the date of the incident, nor in their meeting.
David Rose, a police officer, was killed in the violence that resulted in the Aug. 8 shooting. The perpetrator, reportedly angered by the COVID-19 vaccine, fired 500 rounds in all and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Monarez appeared to choke up when she recounted a number of angry accusations Kennedy hurled at the same meeting, including calling the CDC "the most corrupt federal agency in the world," and suggesting some officials were beholden to the pharmaceutical industry.
Also before the health committee, Debra Houry, former chief medical officer at the CDC, said there was a palpable fear after the shooting, and security measures had to be taken to ensure sensitive private information of some staff were not accessible to the public. She resigned in late August, expressing concerns about the agency's independence.
Houry said she first learned of changes to COVID-19 vaccine guidance through a post on X, where Kennedy Jr. announced the vaccine would no longer be included in the CDC's recommended immunizations for healthy children and pregnant women.
"CDC scientists have still not seen the scientific data or justification for this change," said Houry. "That is not gold-standard science."
Monarez and Houry said they both worried about the resurgence of measles and hepatitis in children. Hundreds were infected in a Texas measles outbreak this year, including two unvaccinated children.
Houry pointed to potential long-lasting effects of the disease, with a California child recently dying of panencephalitis related to a measles infection years earlier.
Monarez also said Kennedy at one point suggested she meet with Aaron Siri, a lawyer who has reportedly doubted the efficacy of the polio vaccine.
Sanders, an independent who is the ranking member of the committee for the minority Democrats, excoriated the health secretary as someone "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," said Sanders. "It's the overwhelming consensus of the scientific and medical community."
Vaccine panel set to meetLeading off the session, Cassidy, a physician, noted that senators had just approved Monarez's confirmation with Kennedy praising her "unimpeachable scientific credentials." She was confirmed by a 51-47 vote.
"Like, what happened?" Cassidy said. "Did we fail? Was there something we should have done differently?"
Republican senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Roger Marshall of Kansas, both with medical backgrounds, avoided questions of process, suggesting that Kennedy was right to suggest that COVID-19 and hepatitis B vaccines were not necessary for most children.
Other Republicans took issue with the attorneys Monarez selected to represent her in the wake of her firing. Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell, the representatives, have previously represented clients who have opposed President Donald Trump in litigation.
The Senate hearing is taking place just a day before the vaccine panel starts its two-day session in Atlanta to discuss shots against COVID-19, hepatitis B and chicken pox. It's unclear how the panel might vote on the recommendations, though members have raised doubts about whether hepatitis B shots administered to newborns are necessary and have suggested that COVID-19 recommendations should be more restricted.
Houry said the agenda of that meeting is being driven by political staff in D.C., something that in her decade of experience at the CDC under both Democratic and Republican administrations she had not experienced.
Monarez said she wouldn't prejudge the Atlanta meeting, but admitted she's "very nervous" about what might transpire, in response to a question on whether parents would be able to trust any vaccine guidance for children that results from the meeting.
Monarez was the first non-physician to lead the CDC, albeit briefly, in its 70-year history.
She holds a doctorate in microbiology and immunology from the University of Wisconsin and did postdoctoral research at Stanford University. Prior to the CDC, Monarez was largely known for her government roles in health technology and biosecurity.
Monarez was not the first choice of the administration. She became the nominee after David Weldon's name was withdrawn in the face of a handful of Republicans expressing concerns.
Weldon, 71, an internal medicine doctor who once served in the House of Representatives, was a leader of a congressional push for research into autism's causes, and has rejected studies that found no causal link between childhood vaccines and autism.
Jim O'Neill, a former investor, critic of health regulations and Kennedy deputy, is now the interim CDC director.
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