Ousted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez told the Senate on Wednesday that the Trump administration plans to change the childhood vaccine schedule, part of a series of clashes that led to her dismissal last month.
Monarez’s testimony before the Senate health committee adds to the worries of critics of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that he and his leadership team are aiming to limit access to childhood vaccines, including those for measles, polio, and Hepatitis B.
Monarez, who was fired on Aug. 27, less than a month after being sworn in, told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. required her to preapprove the changes to the childhood vaccine schedule following the September meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which will occur this Thursday and Friday.
Before Monarez’s confirmation, Kennedy selected members of the ACIP board, which sets recommendations for vaccine approvals to be covered by health insurance, and replaced former members with those more skeptical of the status quo with respect to vaccines
Committee Chairman Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) pressed Monarez on the timeline of her firing, which was the focus of Wednesday’s hearing. Monarez said tensions began in early August with media reports that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices would be examining requirements for childhood vaccines.
Monarez told Cassidy that he demanded she provide “blanket approval” for any changes to the childhood vaccine schedule made by ACIP, regardless of scientific evidence, following its September meeting, scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
Monarez said Kennedy told her on Aug. 25 that the CDC had never provided any data on the safety and efficacy of the current vaccine schedule and, therefore, that she needed to approve decisions from ACIP regarding all changes.
“He just wanted blanket approval, and if I could not commit to approval of each and every one of the recommendations that would be forthcoming, I needed to resign,” Monarez said. “I did not resign, and that is when he told me he had already spoken to the White House about having me removed.”
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Monarez later in the hearing stated that there were five other HHS political staff at the meeting where Kennedy demanded that she approve the ACIP changes: deputy chief of staff Jim O’Neill, Chief of Staff Matt Buckham, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephanie Spear, General Counsel staff Bob Foster, and Ken Callahan, a member of the HHS counsel’s office.
Monarez also said Kennedy told her that he spoke with President Donald Trump “every day” about changing the childhood vaccine schedule.
The ousted director also told Cassidy that Kennedy requested that Monarez meet with Aaron Siri, an attorney who has worked with Kennedy on vaccine injury lawsuits and has petitioned for the revocation of the approval of the polio vaccine.
Monarez told Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) later in her testimony that, after her first meeting with Kennedy on Aug. 25, she reached out to members of the Senate health committee to inform them of impending changes to the childhood vaccine schedule.
She testified that the secretary admonished her for contacting members of the Senate and forbade her from doing so again.
“I was alarmed that I was not being consistent, I would not be consistent with those areas that I had committed to this committee that I would do, transparency, integrity, and I had reached out to the committee to share my concerns,” Monarez testified. “Secretary Kennedy became aware of that, and he was very concerned that I had spoken to members of Congress, and he told me I was never to do it again.”
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), one of the handful of physicians on the panel, pressed Monarez on whether she was the “right person for this job” because of her philosophical disagreements with Kennedy over whether parents should strictly follow the vaccine schedule.
Monarez replied that she has “worked for political appointees and politicians for almost 20 years” and that, despite disagreement, “data has always been paramount.”
“I will stand behind scientific integrity with every decision I ever make, if, if I am put in a position of having to say, ‘I will cede the scientific integrity to retain my job,’ then I am not the right person for the position,” said Monarez. “I believe that we must have science and evidence to support the best decisions for our children and others who would benefit from vaccines.”
