WASHINGTON – The Senate Committee responsible for overseeing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will hold a hearing next week featuring testimonies from former CDC director Susan Monares, who was unexpectedly dismissed after the Trump administration pressured her to resign.
Senator Bill Cassidy, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, will conduct the hearing on September 17th, focusing on CDC oversight. Dr. Debra Howie, who resigned as the chief medical officer after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ousted Monares, is also anticipated to testify, as indicated by a committee spokesperson.
“For the sake of our children’s health, the American public deserves to know what is happening within the CDC,” Cassidy stated on Tuesday night. “Parents need reassurance that their children’s health is a priority, and radical transparency is the only way to achieve that.”
The Advisory Committee on Vaccination Practices is set to convene the next day, September 18th.
Along with the hour-long session, Kennedy’s attempts to reform the vaccine advisory panel will not include Dr. Demetre Daskarakis, who led the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, nor Dr. Daniel Gernigan, who headed another national center.
After Monares was dismissed, Cassidy, a physician who played a crucial role in confirming Kennedy as health secretary, urged that the Vaccine Advisory Committee’s meeting be postponed until thorough oversight can be conducted.
“If the meeting takes place, any recommendations should be deemed illegitimate due to the serious concerns surrounding CDC leadership and the current state of confusion,” he stated in a release last month.
In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, Monares claimed she was let go after Kennedy allegedly refused to approve the recommendations of the panel during an August 25 meeting, shortly before her recent Congressional testimony, where she asserted she declined to support him when he appeared before the Senate Finance Committee this month.
“It is vital that panel recommendations undergo rigorous and scientific evaluation before acceptance or rejection, rather than being treated as mere formalities,” Monares remarked.
Kennedy’s hearing featured numerous tense exchanges between Cassidy and the Democratic senators, with the secretary defending his vaccine stance and articulating his policies aimed at addressing vaccine skepticism among panel members.
Monares’ legal representatives also condemned Kennedy’s testimony, labeling his claims as “false and at times absurd” in a statement issued following the hearing.
Brennan Leach and Frank Thorpe V reported from Zaw Richards of New York from Washington.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
