WATCH: Sen. Warren blasts RFK Jr. about CDC director’s firing

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., questioned HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday about the recent firing of Susan Monarez, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

When Warren said Monarez refused to sign off on Kennedy’s changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, the health secretary said she resigned because “I asked her, ‘Are you a trustworthy person,’ and she said no.”

Warren was shocked at Kennedy’s response, saying that was not what Monarez has said publicly. The former CDC director wrote a column in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that lambasted Kennedy and his “deliberate effort to weaken America’s public-health system and vaccine protections.”

“So you are saying she’s lying?” Warren asked.

“Yes,” Kennedy said, repeating an accusation he made earlier in the hearing about Monraez's account of what happened before she was ousted from the job.

Kennedy appeared before the Senate Committee on Finance a day after more than 20 medical societies and organizations called for his resignation. They cited “repeated efforts to undermine science and public health,” most recently the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez over vaccine science and the resulting resignations of other leaders at the organization.

During his tenure, the health secretary and former anti-vaccine advocate has narrowed long-standing U.S. vaccine recommendations. He’s also replaced a key panel of medical experts with his hand-picked candidates ahead of the start of the respiratory virus season in the United States.

Newsletters

PBS News podcasts

Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app

Find more from PBS News at

Subscribe to our YouTube channel