At a sometimes testy Senate committee hearing on Wednesday, Dr. Susan Monarez, the former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, repeatedly said that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had abandoned science in dismantling longstanding vaccine policy and demanding adherence to his views.
The testimony before the Senate health committee by Dr. Monarez, who was fired in late August after less than a month in the role, detailed the fraught state of vaccine policy under Mr. Kennedy. It also offered a preview of the next two days, when an influential C.D.C. vaccine panel will meet.
As part of its review, the panel will discuss several important immunizations, among them the Covid and hepatitis B shots and the M.M.R.V. shot for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox), and could potentially upend longstanding advice on the vaccines.
At the hearing on Wednesday, Democratic senators hammered away at their opposition to Mr. Kennedy, and asked Dr. Monarez for details on what she described as pressure by Mr. Kennedy to rubber-stamp his policies.
She told senators that the hearing should amplify concerns about “the future of trust in public health.” Dr. Debra Houry, who resigned from her post as the chief medical officer of the C.D.C., testified that Mr. Kennedy repeatedly ignored or did not consult scientific evidence of the value of vaccines. She said he should resign.
Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for Health and Human Services, disputed Dr. Monarez’s account and said she was fired because she undermined the president’s agenda. He said Mr. Kennedy was focused on restoring trust in the C.D.C.
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