In a week marked by high drama on Capitol Hill and turmoil within the nation’s top public health agency, the firing of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez has ignited a fierce debate over vaccine policy, government transparency, and the future of American public health. Monarez, who was nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate just 29 days before her dismissal, testified before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on September 17, 2025, offering a blistering account of her ouster and the internal pressures she faced from within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
According to States Newsroom and other major outlets, Monarez recounted that her firing came after she refused to pre-approve vaccine recommendations and dismiss career CDC officials without cause, as demanded by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. During her testimony, Monarez described a late August meeting where Kennedy told her she must commit to approving upcoming recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) without reviewing any supporting data or research. "He also directed me to dismiss career officials responsible for vaccine policy without cause. He said if I was unwilling to do both, I should resign," Monarez told the committee. She further explained, "I responded that I could not pre-approve recommendations without reviewing the evidence and I had no basis to fire scientific experts."
Monarez’s testimony painted a picture of a CDC under siege, both from external misinformation and internal political pressure. She warned that undermining vaccine safety could lead to a resurgence of preventable diseases such as polio, measles, diphtheria, and chickenpox. "I believe that we will have our children harmed for things that we know they do not need to be harmed by," she cautioned senators, underscoring the potential long-term consequences for children’s health if evidence-based vaccine policy is abandoned.
The former director also revealed that she was instructed by Kennedy not to speak directly with senators—a claim that drew sharp rebuke from Senator Tim Kaine, who stressed, as Nexstar Media reported, "We used to speak with the CDC director all the time during Covid and during other emergencies. Putting a gag order on a CDC director and directing her not to speak to those who have confirmed her and to whom she is responsible for oversight is a very serious matter." Kennedy had previously promised an era of "radical transparency," a pledge that now seems at odds with his reported actions.
The fallout from Monarez’s firing was immediate and far-reaching. Several top CDC officials resigned in protest, including former Chief Medical Officer Dr. Debra Houry, who testified that the appointment of new, less experienced members to the vaccine advisory committee could have dire consequences. "It’s going to be heartbreaking," Houry said, referencing recent U.S. cases of severe illness and death from vaccine-preventable diseases. She added, "These diseases have long-term consequences and in the U.S. we have gone so far in reversing this. We don’t want our children to die." Both Monarez and Houry spoke of the real-world dangers posed by confusion over vaccine recommendations, including threats against CDC staff and a chilling effect on scientific discourse.
The leadership shake-up at the CDC comes amid broader changes to federal vaccine policy under the Trump administration. As reported by Spectrum News and other outlets, Kennedy has overhauled the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, ousted 17 members of the longstanding vaccine advisory committee, and altered recommendations around COVID-19 shots. The Department of Health and Human Services also announced a $500 million cut in funding for projects using mRNA technology to develop new vaccines. These moves have raised alarm among public health experts, who fear that the loss of experienced officials and the politicization of vaccine policy could leave the country vulnerable to future outbreaks.
Senator Bill Cassidy, the Republican chair of the Senate health committee, responded to Monarez’s allegations by inviting Kennedy to testify and share his side of the story. "Because President Trump has called for radical transparency, I am inviting Secretary Kennedy to speak with the Committee to share his side of the story," Cassidy said in a press release. He also emphasized the need for lawmakers to provide Americans with "all the facts, not a version of the facts that fits a certain narrative agenda." Cassidy, a physician himself, noted that he had cast a key vote to confirm Kennedy as HHS Secretary despite reservations about Kennedy’s well-documented skepticism toward vaccines.
For his part, Kennedy has defended his actions, testifying earlier in September that he asked Monarez to resign because she told him she was not trustworthy. "I told her that she had to resign because I asked her, 'Are you a trustworthy person?' And she said, 'No,'" Kennedy told the committee. He confirmed that he asked Monarez to dismiss certain CDC officials but denied instructing her to accept vaccine advisory recommendations without review. In a statement, HHS communications director Andrew Nixon said, "We will continue to hold productive conversations with the Committee about how to Make America Healthy Again." A department spokesperson added, "Susan Monarez was fired for declaring herself untrustworthy to the Secretary and acting maliciously to undermine the President’s agenda. This made it impossible for her to carry out the mission of HHS and the CDC with integrity and transparency."
Amid the political and bureaucratic crossfire, the practical consequences of the CDC’s leadership crisis are already being felt. The ACIP, now with many new members, convened in Atlanta this week to debate controversial changes to the nation’s immunization schedule. According to Air Mail, committee chair Martin Kulldorff—himself a polarizing figure after being fired from Harvard Medical School for refusing the coronavirus vaccine—challenged former CDC directors to a public debate over the new policies, asking pointedly, "A key question is, Who can you trust?"
Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s directive to end remote work for disabled CDC employees, sometimes with less than 24 hours’ notice, has drawn criticism from disability advocates and legal experts, who argue the move may violate the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
As senators from both parties continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding Monarez’s firing, the stakes for American public health remain high. The loss of experienced scientific leadership, the politicization of vaccine policy, and the erosion of trust between public health officials and lawmakers all threaten to undermine the nation’s ability to respond to future health crises. As Senator Cassidy put it, "Did we do something wrong? It may be that we did nothing wrong, in which case, Dr. Monarez and Dr. Houry, the onus is upon you to prove that the criticisms leveled by the secretary are not true."
With hearings ongoing and the nation’s vaccination policies in flux, the outcome of this high-stakes dispute will shape the health and safety of millions of Americans for years to come.
