1 of 7 | Former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Susan Monarez speaks during a Senate Committee on Heath, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo
Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Susan Monarez testified Wednesday in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired her because she refused to allow all decisions to be approved by political staff.
Monarez offered new details about her time at the CDC. She said Kennedy told her that all CDC policy and personnel decisions had to get approval from the political staff, which is not the way the CDC has operated in the past. She also said that she learned from news reports about Kennedy's firing of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a team of outside experts who advise the agency on vaccinations.
Monarez was fired last month, 29 days into her new job as CDC director, amid clashes with Kennedy over vaccine policies. Dr. Debra Houry, who stepped down from her role as the CDC's chief medical officer in protest after Monarez's firing, also testified in the hearing.
