"On the morning of 25 August, Kennedy demanded that Monarez commit in advance to approving every ACIP recommendation, regardless of the scientific evidence, she testified. He also directed her to dismiss career officials responsible for vaccine policy without cause, she said. He said if I was unwilling to do both, I should resign. I responded that I could not pre-approve recommendations without reviewing the evidence, and I had no basis to fire scientific experts, Monarez believes that's the true reason she was fired, she said."
"Kennedy was very upset and tense in their meeting. He spoke of the CDC and its employees in a hurtful and disparaging manner, Monarez said. He called, in that context, CDC the most corrupt federal agency in the world. He emphasized that CDC employees were horrible people, she said. He said that CDC employees were killing children, and they don't care."
"Monarez went on to say that based on what she observed during her tenure, there is a real risk that recommendations could be made restricting access to vaccines for children and others in need, without rigorous scientific review. With no permanent CDC director in place, those recommendations could be adopted."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pressured CDC leadership to pre-approve ACIP recommendations and to remove career vaccine policy officials, compromising scientific review. Susan Monarez said Kennedy demanded advance approval of every ACIP recommendation regardless of evidence and asked her to dismiss career experts; she refused and was fired after less than a month. Debra Houry resigned after serving under six CDC directors. Monarez described Kennedy using disparaging language about CDC staff and warned that weakened vaccine safeguards and lack of permanent leadership could lead to restricted vaccine access and increased preventable disease outbreaks.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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