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Fired CDC Director Says RFK Jr. Pressured Her to Blindly Approve Vaccine Changes


Susan Monarez told a Senate committee that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. demanded she dismiss career officials without cause—and accept vaccine recommendations regardless of whether science backed them up.

At a Senate hearing on Wednesday, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Susan Monarez said she was fired from her role for not rubber stamping vaccine recommendations from her boss, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., regardless of whether they were backed by scientific evidence. “This hearing is a direct response to President Trump’s call for radical transparency in how we conduct governmental affairs,” said senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican and physician from Louisiana who serves as chairman of the committee. Debra Houry, former chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science at CDC, who was one of several agency officials to resign in the wake of Monarez’s firing, also testified during Wednesday’s hearing.

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