This morning, ousted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Susan Monarez came to the Senate to share her story of being fired by US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Donald Trump, the latest volley in an ongoing battle between the Trump administration and the public health establishment.
According to Monarez’s testimony, the upcoming meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) — which will take place over the next two days — had been the impetus for her ouster. She testified that, during a contentious meeting with Kennedy before she was fired, he asked her to approve, sight unseen, the new vaccine recommendations that would be made by his new ACIP. The panel is now staffed by experts who were handpicked by Kennedy, who also asked her to fire career CDC vaccine scientists.
During her testimony before the Senate health committee, Monarez maintained composure as many Republican senators sought to cast doubt on her credibility. But the committee chair, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who is also a trained physician, was a counter-force: He issued his own warning about unjustified changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, particularly the hepatitis B shot.
And now, what could be the real breaking point for Kennedy’s Make America Healthy agenda is here.
At tomorrow’s and Friday’s meetings, the ACIP will discuss possible changes to the childhood vaccine schedule and the federal government’s guidance for the Covid-19 and hepatitis B vaccines and for measles-mumps-rubella shots. The guidance for hepatitis B shots, in particular, may be changed, and emerged as a flashpoint at Wednesday’s hearing.
The rift over the hepatitis B vaccine, briefly explained
How did the hepatitis B shot suddenly become so central in this debate? It’s long been a target of anti-vaccine activists because it is given within the first day of a child’s life. And in today’s Senate hearing, some Republicans sounded on board with making changes: Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) suggested that the timing of the vaccine, which is currently offered to newborn babies, should be pushed back. He argued that unless the mother is known to have hepatitis B, giving the vaccine that early was unnecessary.
At the end of the hearing, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the committee chair, offered a rebuke: He noted that a child infected at birth with hepatitis B has a more than 90 percent chance of developing a chronic infection — and he pointed out that the US used to see 20,000 babies infected by hepatitis B every year, before the vaccine became standard in the early 1990s. Now it’s less than 20.
“That,” he emphasized, “is an accomplishment to make America healthy again. And we should stand up and salute the people who made the decision, because there are people who would otherwise be dead if their mothers weren’t given the choice of that vaccine.”
Cassidy also underscored that the CDC does not mandate the hepatitis B vaccine; it only requires the insurance company to pay for the shot — and that’s only if the parents want it.
“Now that we’ve controlled [hepatitis B], do we let the genie out of the bottle?” he asked, observing that if the ACIP removes the recommendation for newborns to get the hepatitis B shot, health insurers may no longer cover the cost.
Today’s hearing with the former CDC director didn’t result in widespread calls for Kennedy’s resignation. But the opposition to his aggressive overhaul of vaccine policy has been building for some time.
Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) grilled Kennedy over the value of vaccines at another hearing earlier this month. Politico reported on a growing ambivalence among other GOP lawmakers, too. But Kennedy still has a lot of allies in his corner; except for Cassidy and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), most of the Republican questions for Monarez at the Wednesday hearing were hostile and sought to cast doubt on her credibility.
But Cassidy could really escalate the situation. He’s always been the most closely watched Republican senator when it comes to Kennedy and the MAHA agenda. He’s the health committee chair, and because he’s a trained physician, he has a lot of credibility among experts and the public. If he wants to make life difficult for Kennedy, he can — by investigating the health agency, calling for more testimony, and opposing his agenda on the Senate floor.
Now Cassidy has all but issued a warning to ACIP and Kennedy against making an unjustified change to the hepatitis B vaccine guidance. They’ll make their countermove in the coming days.
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