Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accused his former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of lying about vaccine recommendations.
Kennedy appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday for a hearing focused on President Donald Trump’s healthcare agenda, dubbed Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) on the campaign trail last year.
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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. arrives to testify before the Senate Finance Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Sept. 4, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik )
But the recent turmoil at the CDC caused by the firing of former CDC Director Susan Monarez and the exodus of several senior officials, along with Kennedy’s view on vaccines, became a focal point for both Senate Republicans and Democrats on the panel.
During a fiery exchange at the start of the hearing between Kennedy and Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Kennedy accused Monarez of lying in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece.
Monarez was fired less than a month after being confirmed by the Senate and charged in her op-ed that during a meeting with the secretary last month, she was pressured to resign or be fired after being ordered to "pre-approve the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled with people who have publicly expressed anti-vaccine rhetoric."
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Committee Chair Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., pictured during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Feb. 8, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Wyden questioned whether Kennedy did tell Monarez to "just go along with vaccine recommendations even if she didn't think such recommendations aligned with scientific evidence?"
"Yes or no? You have an opportunity to call her a liar. If you say that you didn't, do it," the Oregon Democrat said. "But I'd like to see you respond to this."
"No," Kennedy said. "No, I did not say that to her. And I never had a private meeting with her."
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Susan Monarez seen testifying during her June confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on June 25, 2025. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
Kennedy argued earlier in the hearing that the reason he fired Monarez, along with the entirety of the CDC’s vaccine recommendation panel to restore the CDC to the "gold standard" of healthcare.
"America is home to 4.2% of the world's population. Yet we had nearly 20% COVID deaths. We literally did worse than any country in the world. And the people at the CDC who oversaw that process, who put masks on our children, who closed our schools, are the people who will be leaving," Kennedy said. "And that's why we need bold, competent and creative new leadership at CDC."
"People are able and willing to chart a new course," he continued. "As my father once said, ‘Progress is a nice word, [but] change [is a] motivator. And change has its enemies.’ That's why we need new blood at CDC."