WASHINGTON — The former head of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said she worries the Trump administration is rejecting science and expertise in public health to potentially devastating effects.
Susan Monarez, who was fired after less than a month on the job, testified before the Senate’s health committee Wednesday about the details surrounding her ouster and the unraveling of her relationship with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. She provided a contrast to the version provided by Kennedy during testimony before a different committee two weeks ago.
Monarez said Kennedy had asked her to commit to firing CDC experts and wanted her to preapprove new vaccine guidelines without any review or input. She said she refused on the grounds that it would violate both her oath of office and ethics standards.
But Monarez said the bigger issues is the impact of allowing vaccine skeptics and political activists to control public health decisions.
“The question before us is whether we will keep faith with our children and grandchildren, ensuring they remain safe from the diseases we fought so hard to defeat — polio, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough and many others,” she said. “Undoing that progress would not only be reckless, it would betray every family that trusts us to protect their health.”
Members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions asked Monarez to recount the trajectory of her relationship with Kennedy beginning with the day he swore her into the role on July 31. She had received glowing endorsements from Kennedy and President Donald Trump before all Senate Republicans voted in favor of her nomination.
The next time she and Kennedy met was on Aug. 11, days after a gunman opened fire on the Atlanta headquarters and let off hundreds of rounds. DeKalb Police Officer David Rose was killed; the alleged attacker had expressed concerns about vaccines.
Monarez told the committee that Kennedy never offered condolences to the officer. Meanwhile, she said she was left dealing with a workforce that was traumatized and worried about their personal safety.
“I had staff that were covering their kids in the day care parking lot,” she said. “There were people that were getting out of the rideshare as bullets were passing over their head. I have many that won’t speak about vaccines now and removed their names off of papers. They don’t wish to present publicly anymore because they feel they were personally targeted because of misinformation.”
Debra Houry, who resigned as CDC chief medical officer in protest of Monarez’s firing, testified alongside her on Wednesday. She echoed concerns that public health research was being hindered under Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, and she said preventable diseases are already on the rise.
“Trust and transparency have been broken,” Houry said. “Here again, the problem is not too much science but too little.”
Both Democrats and Republicans on the panel said they were troubled by the circumstances of Monarez’s ouster and the different ways she and Kennedy described the reasons behind the split.
Some Republicans on the panel, however, defended the White House’s decision to part ways with her and said she had shown an unwillingness to listen to people who expressed concerns about childhood vaccines. They also accused her of disloyalty.
These GOP members took issue with the attorneys who accompanied her to the hearing, describing them as “anti-Trump.” Florida Sen. Ashley Moody accused Monarez of conspiring to embarrass the president.
“Did you plan to coordinate this public spectacle surrounding your firing?” she asked.
Monarez denied that and said she chose lawyers who would give her the best counsel.
She testified that the final time she met with Kennedy, it was after he summoned her to Washington in late August. It was there that she refused to abide by directives to preapprove vaccine decisions without scientific justification, she said.
Kennedy was upset, and he became more enraged after he found out she had shared her concerns with others. He told her she could not be trusted, Monarez said.
“I told him if you cannot trust me, then you can fire me,” she told the panel.
Soon after, the White House announced she would be leaving.
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