RFK Jr. and vaccines loom over Senate confirmation hearing for CDC director

WASHINGTON — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s views connected vaccines loomed implicit Susan Monarez’s Senate confirmation proceeding Wednesday to beryllium the adjacent manager of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Monarez, who has a doctorate successful microbiology and immunology, was antecedently the lawman manager of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, a national probe backing bureau focused connected biomedical innovations. Her erstwhile enactment looked astatine utilizing artificial intelligence to amended wellness outcomes.

If confirmed, she would beryllium the archetypal CDC manager without a aesculapian grade successful much than 70 years.

The astir two-hour proceeding earlier the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee connected Wednesday was mostly cordial.

Senators expressed emblematic concerns astir issues affecting their states, specified arsenic pb poisoning, overdose deaths and adjacent canine sled races. Monarez promised each subordinate that she’d look into specified issues if confirmed.

The main sticking constituent among mostly Democratic senators, however, was whether Monarez would basal her crushed against Kennedy and his efforts to reshape the country’s vaccine nationalist wellness infrastructure.

“Secretary Kennedy is giving a level to radical who prevarication astir vaccines,” Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said. “I anticipation you volition beryllium forceful successful pushing backmost against Secretary Kennedy’s assessments and messaging to the public.”

When she was acting CDC director, Monarez carried retired directives from the White House to scrub the agency’s website of thing related to “gender ideology” earlier a justice ordered the bureau to reconstruct pages it had deleted. The purge had included a fig of pages related to HIV.

Coinciding with Wednesday’s proceeding was a CDC vaccine advisory committee meeting to sermon a proposal for a vaccine for respiratory syncytial microorganism (RSV).

Earlier this month, Kennedy fired each 17 members of the committee — known arsenic the Advisory Committee connected Immunization Practices — and replaced them with 8 caller members. The caller members see well-known vaccine critics. One idiosyncratic dropped retired astatine the past infinitesimal owed to imaginable fiscal conflicts, said HELP committee seat Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who underscored the value of the CDC director’s relation successful recommending vaccines.

“If the ACIP gathering contiguous is being utilized to sow distrust, I would ask, arsenic you spell forward, that you marque definite that determination truly is simply a balanced perspective,” Cassidy said. On Monday, Cassidy called for the ACIP gathering to beryllium delayed until much members with applicable expertise could beryllium appointed. The gathering proceeded arsenic scheduled.

Monarez stood steadfast connected immoderate issues that Kennedy mightiness not: She acknowledged that vaccines prevention children’s lives and said areas with fluoridated h2o were safe.

But she often sidestepped questions astir whether she disagreed with decisions made by the wellness secretary, including connected ACIP, a determination that appeared to frustrate galore Democrats.

During a tense back-and-forth with Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., Monarez refused to accidental whether she agreed with Kennedy’s past comments astir vaccines and measles, lone noting that she would beryllium an “independent thinker” if confirmed.

“I americium precise acrophobic that a CDC nominee who says she wants to beryllium autarkic and volition use subject is truthful unwilling to talk publically astir technological grounds that contradicts the secretary,” Hassan said.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., shared a akin sentiment erstwhile grilling Monarez astir caller occupation cuts astatine the CDC nether Kennedy.

“I’ve got questions astir your willingness to travel done connected your values,” Kaine told Monarez.

The request for a caller CDC person is urgent arsenic the bureau has endured monolithic upheaval successful caller months. HHS gutted aggregate CDC nationalist wellness programs. Kennedy has dispersed vaccine disinformation, adjacent arsenic the federation is connected way to surpass the largest fig of measles cases since 2019.

Morale is low, according to a CDC worker who was not authorized to talk to the media.

Staffers are “so acceptable for enactment of immoderate benignant astatine CDC,” the idiosyncratic said. “It is wide that CDC volition beryllium antithetic with truthful galore programs that person been axed. But we truly request to beryllium capable to determination guardant with important enactment that crushed to a halt.”

Monarez concisely served arsenic the CDC’s acting manager astatine the opening of President Donald Trump’s 2nd term. She stepped down from the acting presumption erstwhile she was officially nominated for the relation aft Trump’s archetypal pick, former Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., was pulled from information conscionable hours earlier his confirmation proceeding was acceptable to statesman connected March 13.

At the time, it appeared that Weldon — who’d antecedently criticized the CDC and questioned the information of vaccines — didn’t person the votes to beryllium confirmed. He has a past of questioning the information of vaccines, including the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, falsely linking it to autism.