By Brendan Scanland
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Dr. Susan Monarez was one of the nation’s top public health officials for just 29 days.
She was on Capitol Hill Wednesday, following the controversial and abrupt end to her role as CDC director.
“My tenure as CDC director lasted 29 days,” Dr. Monarez said.
Earlier this year, Monarez was nominated by the Trump administration and confirmed by the Senate to serve as CDC director. But less than a month after starting the new role– “Secretary Kennedy demanded two things of me that were inconsistent with my oath of office and the ethics required of a public official,” she said.
Those two things, according to Monarez, were to approve every new recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP — regardless of scientific evidence — and to dismiss career officials responsible for vaccine policy, without cause.
“He said if I was unwilling to do both, I should resign,” Monarez said. “I would not commit to that. And I believe it is the true reason I was fired.”
In June, all 17 voting members of the ACIP were replaced by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “to restore public trust in vaccines,” according to HHS.
“These appointments reflect the commitment of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to transparency, evidence-based science, and diverse expertise in guiding the nation’s immunization policies,” the HHS press release read.
But on Capitol Hill Wednesday, former CDC officials shared a different perspective.
“We know vaccines save lives,” said Dr. Debra Houry, a former senior CDC official testifying alongside Monarez. “Yet all 17 voting members of ACIP were replaced with critics.”
During the hearing, some Republicans raised concerns about vaccine recommendations and the childhood vaccine schedule.
“What is the medical, scientific reason and proof for giving a newborn a hepatitis B vaccine if the mom is hep B negative,” Sen. Rand Paul (R- KY) asked Monarez. “See, everybody’s like blindly going along — ‘We can’t change the childhood’ [vaccine schedule], and you’re somehow terrible if you want to change the childhood… We should be discussing what is the childhood vaccine schedule. The burden is upon you, and the people you wouldn’t fire, to prove to us that we need to give our six-month-old a COVID vaccine and that we need to give our one-day-old a hepatitis B vaccine.”
Tomorrow, the reconstituted ACIP is expected to meet. Monarez noted during the hearing, based on observations during her tenure, that there is a real risk of recommendations being made to restrict access to vaccines for children and others in need.
“With no permanent CDC director in place, those recommendations could be adopted,” Monarez said.
