Former CDC director Susan Monarez and former chief medical officer Debra Houry will appear in front of the Senate HELP Committee on Sept. 17.
Former CDC Director Susan Monarez, recently fired from her position by the White House, is set to appear before a Senate committee to testify “about the recent high-profile departures from the agency.”
The meeting, announced on Tuesday by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, will also include Debra Houry, the CDC’s former chief medical officer, who resigned after Monarez was forced out. The committee is also planning to hold another future hearing with current officials at the Department of Health and Human Services to give them the opportunity to respond.
HELP will hear Monarez and Houry’s testimonies on Sept. 17. The following day, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will convene to discuss, among other things, recommendations regarding COVID-19 vaccination. A vote “may” be held, according to a Federal Register notice.
“To protect children’s health, Americans need to know what has happened and is happening at the CDC,” HELP Committee chair Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said in a prepared statement on Tuesday. “They need to be reassured that their child’s health is given priority. Radical transparency is the only way to do that.”
In recent weeks, Monarez has been at the center of a controversial and very public leadership spat at the CDC. She was confirmed to lead the agency in late July but in late August, after just 28 days on the job, she was forced out of her post after friction with HHS leadership, particularly Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., regarding COVID-19 policy.
Monarez did not go down without a fight. Last week, she wrote an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal, alleging that Kennedy had asked her to “preapprove” recommendations from vaccine advisors regarding COVID-19 immunization guidelines. She refused, which she alleged led to her firing. Monarez also blasted what she called the “partisan” decision-making at HHS.
Houry, for her part, also penned a public opinion piece after her CDC exit, which was published by The Washington Post last week. “Under the current administration, public health data and lab infrastructure are eroding, making Americans less prepared for all health threats,” she wrote, adding that Kennedy’s HHS overhaul has removed hundreds of “ready responders” who otherwise could have helped communities during health crises.
Houry also blasted vaccination policy changes that she said were “not based on science or data” and erode the public’s trust in the CDC.
