Stephen I. Feller , 2025-06-25 23:00:00
Key takeaways:
- Senators expressed frustration with cuts and changes to the CDC, which has been without a permanent director since January.
- Monarez said she would commit to prioritizing the availability of vaccines.
Senators questioned Susan Monarez, PhD, about a range of topics Wednesday during a hearing to assess her nomination to be the next director of the CDC.
Monarez expressed some support for HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s changes at the agency but did not offer much detail on a range of concerns raised during the hearing, including about vaccines, although she did say she would “commit to making sure that we continue to prioritize vaccine availability.”
President Trump nominated Monarez to be the CDC director in March after withdrawing the nomination of his previous choice, physician and former congressman David Weldon, MD, just hours before he was set to testify. Monarez had been the acting director since January.
This is the first time the Senate has confirmation power over the CDC director.
Key moments
- Monarez testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) at the same time the CDC’s new-look Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met for the first time in Atlanta. As CDC director, she would be tasked with reviewing ACIP vaccine recommendations and either signing off on them or going her own way.
- Senators asked Monarez about the eight new members Kennedy named to the ACIP to replace the 17 he fired earlier this month and learned that one of the eight, Michael A. Ross, MD, an obstetrician and gynecologist, had already left the committee because of a conflict of interest.
- The newly reconstituted ACIP has come under scrutiny for the inclusion of several members who rose to prominence as critics of vaccines or the U.S. response to COVID-19. When Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) asked Monarez if she agreed with Kennedy’s decision to replace the entire ACIP, she said that she “agreed that the secretary had to make a decision related to ensuring that the ACIP could be supportive of restoring public trust in decision-making.”
- Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) all mentioned in their line of questioning that Monarez said in her written testimony that “good public health saves lives” and that “when public health is neglected, it costs lives.”
- Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy, MD, who cast the deciding vote that ultimately led to Kennedy’s confirmation as health secretary, reinforced his support for vaccines and repeated his concerns about the new ACIP, telling Monarez, “You will help decide, ‘Are we building trust or not?’ If the ACIP is being used to sow distrust, I would ask as you go forward that you would make sure that there was a balanced perspective. Yes, someone can speak as a critic, but there should be someone who is reviewing the overwhelming evidence of the safety of vaccines.”
- Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) asked Monarez whether she would “immediately” re-staff the CDC’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program and reconsider the city of Milwaukee’s request for assistance in their public schools. The staff was thought to be among CDC employees rehired earlier this month, but Baldwin said the office remains empty and Kennedy has not responded to letters asking about the program. Monarez told Baldwin that she would “look at the staffing and I will ensure that these public health priorities have the capacity necessary to deliver [these] critical services.”
- Kaine told Monarez that he had questions about “your willingness to follow through on your values” after he asked about the elimination of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, with all 120 employees and all contractors being laid off. Before acknowledging that the office may have been cut as part of returning “the CDC to its core functions related to preventing, detecting and responding to infectious diseases and emerging threats” during downsizing planning when she was acting CDC director, Monarez said that she was not involved with staffing decisions after she left and could not specifically recall cutting the office.
What’s next
The HELP committee will vote on whether to send Monarez’s nomination to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. The Senate is scheduled to be in recess June 30 to July 4, and the committee has not yet scheduled its vote.
Republicans control the Senate and have a one-seat majority on the committees. Nominees need only a simple majority to be approved by the committee or confirmed by the Senate.
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