Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine questioned fired U.S. Centers for Disease Control Director Susan Monarez during a Senate health committee hearing Wednesday aimed at restoring trust through "radical transparency."
Monarez testified that U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired her because she refused to dismiss career CDC vaccine officials. And she said she also refused to pre-approve recommendations from a federal vaccine advisory committee without evaluating scientific evidence.
"What are the implications for public health if important scientific decisions at the CDC are made by the political staff rather than the career scientists?" Collins asked Monarez.
Morarez said it puts people at risk, including children.
"It puts at risk others who need these vaccines," she said. "And it takes us into a very dangerous place in public health."
Monarez was fired in August, after 29 days in her role. Several top agency officials resigned in protest, including former medical director Debra Houry. Collins also questioned Houry during the Senate hearing.
"Did HHS' response to the measles outbreak earlier this year differ from its response to other infectious disease outbreaks in your previous interactions with the department?" Collins asked.
"Yes, in several ways," Houry said. She told Collins that neither she nor the CDC's director briefed Kennedy about the outbreak, which was unusual.
"The second thing is, he said things like, 'Vaccines have fetal parts' and I had to send a note to our leadership team to correct that misinformation," Houry said.
She added that Kennedy also asked staff to include medications in toolkits for physicians that had no evidence for treating measles and would result in harm.
