During a hearing in front of the Senate’s HELP committee, Susan Monarez addressed her controversial firing and recalled a conversation where Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. allegedly said that “CDC employees were killing children and they don’t care.”
At one particularly heated point during a hearing Wednesday in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, former CDC Director Susan Monarez became emotional when she recalled “a set of assertions” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. allegedly made about the CDC that she called hurtful and disparaging.
“He said that CDC employees were killing children, and they don’t care,” Monarez said in response to a question from Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH). “He said that CDC employees were bought by the pharmaceutical industry. He said CDC forced [people] to wear masks and social distance like a dictatorship.”
Earlier this month, during a combative appearance in front of the Senate finance committee, Kennedy bluntly accused Monarez of lying about the circumstances surrounding her recent ousting. On Wednesday, Monarez was given a chance to respond.
Following Kennedy’s Sept. 4 hearing, Monarez was invited to appear before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), chaired by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA). Debra Houry, the CDC’s former chief medical officer, who resigned after Monarez was forced out, also testified on Wednesday.
“Turmoil at the top of the nation’s top public health agency is not good for the health of the American people,” Cassidy said during his opening remarks. Monarez, confirmed as CDC director on July 29, was nominated by President Donald Trump and received the vote of every Republican. “The secretary said in [Monarez’s] swearing-in that she has, quote, unimpeachable scientific credentials, and the president called her an incredible mother and dedicated public servant,” Cassidy said. “What happened?”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), ranking member on the HELP committee, also focused on how the relationship between Kennedy and Monarez devolved so significantly in just 29 days. “How did Dr. Monarez go from being a public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials who had the full confidence of Secretary Kennedy into being a liar and untrustworthy in less than a month?”
Sanders proceeded to answer his own question. “She took the radical position that she wanted to examine the scientific facts before drawing conclusions.”
On Sept. 4, Kennedy told the Senate finance committee that he asked Monarez to resign because she told him she wasn’t trustworthy, Politico reported.
On Wednesday, Monarez told the HELP committee that she never said that. Rather, “I had refused to commit to approving vaccine recommendations without evidence, fire career officials without cause or resign, and I had shared my concerns with this committee. I told the secretary that if he believed he could not trust me, he could fire me.”
Monarez began her testimony with a brief outline of the events leading up to her firing by the White House, which included hearing rumors in early August that the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) might alter the childhood vaccine schedule at its upcoming meeting this week, “potentially without credible, supporting data.” Then, on Aug. 8, barely a week into her short tenure, a gunman—“driven by vaccine distrust,” Monarez told Senators—fired 180 rounds into CDC headquarters in Atlanta. And on Aug. 19, Monarez received a directive from the secretary’s office that she required prior approval from political staff for CDC policy and personnel decisions.
“Even under pressure, I could not replace evidence with ideology or compromise my integrity,” Monarez told the committee.
Houry followed Monarez with her own, much shorter opening remarks. “Trust and transparency have been broken. The problem is not too much science but too little,” she said.
Houry then touched on an issue that would become a flashpoint throughout the hearing: that she learned of changes to the CDC’s COVID-19 vaccine guidance in May for healthy children and pregnant women on an X social media post. “CDC scientists have still not seen the scientific data or justification for this change,” she said. “That is not gold standard science.”
Following up on this later in response to a question from Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), Houry said that as the agency’s CMO, she requested a written memo from HHS, “because I couldn’t implement guidance off of a tweet.”
In another X post on Tuesday, illustrating the bipartisan tone the criticism of Kennedy has taken on in recent weeks, Sen. Rand Paul, (R-KY) wrote, “My friend and ally @SecKennedy will be under attack from the establishment of both parties at the Senate HELP hearing tomorrow. I will defend him. Ask you Senator and Senate GOP HELPS members to do the same.”
Certainly, Paul tried his best—refuting Monarez’s answers to every question he asked about the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines for children.
“Does the COVID vaccine reduce the rate of death for children under 18?” Paul asked.
“It can,” Monarez responded.
“That’s a ridiculous answer. No, it doesn’t,” Paul said, before launching into a speech.
Kennedy will have the opportunity to respond to the comments made during this meeting at a later hearing, Cassidy confirmed.
