Former U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez, who was ousted after resisting changes to vaccine policy that were advanced by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and that she believed contradicted scientific evidence, walks to testify before a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 17, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

By Ahmed Aboulenein and Leah Douglas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told former CDC Director Susan Monarez two days before her August firing that the childhood vaccination schedule would change in September, Monarez told a Senate panel on Wednesday.

Kennedy asked her to commit to approving the changes before reviewing scientific evidence and said there is no evidence supporting the current schedule, Monarez said.

Kennedy also asked for blanket approval of the recommendations of the agency's vaccine advisory board and required her to seek her own political staff's approval for her policy and personnel decisions before ultimately ousting her, Monarez said.

Monarez, who helmed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 29 days, was fired on August 27 after clashing with Kennedy over vaccine policy. She told the Senators that Kennedy told her he had spoken with the White House several times about having her removed.

A microbiologist and immunologist who has worked at various government agencies since 2006, Monarez was confirmed as CDC director on July 30, the first required to have Senate approval.

She is now at the nexus of a debate over the future of U.S. vaccination policy, in which Kennedy has pushed to scale back the use of vaccines and U.S. public health experts and medical doctors have called for him to resign, saying his policies will hurt Americans.

Some Republicans have also expressed concern over Kennedy's proposed policies to decrease vaccine access, including Senator Bill Cassidy, chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, who invited Monarez, as well as former Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry to the hearing.

At the Wednesday hearing, Monarez positioned herself as open to the policy priorities of President Donald Trump's administration, like improving childhood health, but that she refused to compromise the scientific integrity of the agency's work.

Republicans questioned why Democrats supported Monarez when all Senate Democrats had voted against her July confirmation. At least two Democrats on Wednesday apologized to Monarez for their lack of support and for questioning her independence.

Cassidy said in opening remarks that the country needs unbiased, politics-free, evidence-based science. He said the committee had a responsibility to look at why someone Kennedy had described as having 'unimpeachable scientific credentials' was fired after 29 days.

KENNEDY SOUGHT PRE-APPROVAL FOR VACCINE CHANGES

Monarez was the first non-physician appointed to the position in 50 years, brought in as acting director after Trump took office. She has been a government employee since 2006 at various agencies.

She provided details of the exchange she had with Kennedy before she was fired. On August 25, Kennedy told Monarez that "the childhood vaccine schedule would be changing certainly in September," she said. Kennedy asked her to commit to approving changes to the vaccine schedule before reviewing scientific evidence, Monarez said.

Kennedy also directed her to commit in advance to approve every recommendation by Kennedy's handpicked committee members, regardless of the scientific evidence, and to fire officials responsible for vaccine policy, Monarez said. Kennedy also told her that she should only work with political appointees at CDC and not career scientists, and that she should not speak with U.S. Senators.

Monarez told the Senate committee that she had been open to changing the childhood vaccine schedule if there was supportive evidence, but would not commit to blanket approval. Kennedy told her that "there was no science or evidence associated with the childhood vaccine schedule" and that if she could not commit to signing off on the changes, that she needed to resign.

Kennedy denied during a September 4 Senate Finance Committee hearing that he ordered Monarez to pre-approve decisions, but said he had ordered her to fire officials.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was not immediately available for comment on Monarez's testimony.

EXPERT ADVISERS FIRED

Two of the vaccines on the children's vaccine schedule will be discussed on Thursday at a meeting of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, now populated with 12 new handpicked members. Kennedy fired all 17 members in June.

Asked during the hearing how CDC staff were preparing for the upcoming vaccine advisory committee meeting, Houry said there had not been any work group meetings apart from COVID vaccines. Work groups are charged with gathering and ranking available data ahead of the meeting and make recommendations on how advisers should vote.

Kennedy has narrowed eligibility for COVID shots and cut funding for the development of new vaccines using the mRNA technology that was the basis of vaccines widely used during the pandemic.

Criticism of Kennedy has intensified since Monarez's firing, which triggered resignations of four CDC officials, citing anti-vaccine policies and misinformation he and his team are pushing.

(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Additional reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago and Bo Erickson and Leah Douglas in Washington; Writing by Leah Douglas; Editing by Aurora Ellis and Nick Zieminski)