Susan Monarez, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under the Department of Health and Human Services, testified before the Senate on Wednesday in a long-awaited confirmation hearing.
The hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions took place against the backdrop of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s efforts to rework the public health establishment in line with his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. He has drawn scrutiny from senators, particularly for his skepticism of vaccines and his recent decision to remove all the members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which provides vaccine recommendations to the CDC.
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Monarez, who earned her doctorate in microbiology and immunology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has extensive experience in government medical services. She worked for various biomedical research agencies under the Department of Homeland Security and was appointed deputy director of the CDC’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health in 2003.
Trump appointed her as the CDC’s acting Director in January, but she had to step down in March after the president nominated her as the full director.
If confirmed, she would be the first CDC director without a medical degree.
Senators on both sides of the aisle questioned Monarez about vaccines, the vaccine safety panel, COVID-19’s origins, and more during her roughly two hours of testimony on Wednesday. Here are the highlights:
No link between vaccines and autism
In questioning from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the committee’s leading Democrat, Monarez rejected the idea that vaccines cause autism. This theme has been a feature of all health-related confirmation hearings under Kennedy’s administration.
Kennedy, whose environmental advocacy career led him to support anti-vaccine rhetoric, has long suggested that vaccines may cause autism and has launched a major effort to research the causes of autism that has drawn concern from advocates.
“I have not seen a causal link between vaccines and autism,” Monarez said.
Monarez said multiple times throughout the hearing that vaccines save lives and should be promoted by the CDC.
Paul disappointed by COVID-19 response
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) appeared to be let down by Monarez’s responses to his questions about the origins of COVID-19 and the response to the pandemic, which he has made a central point of inquiry during his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Paul asked her if it was appropriate for former Director of the National Institutes of Health Dr. Francis Collins to request that top pandemic adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci coordinate a “devastating” take-down of scientists who criticized the administration’s response to the virus.
After some back-and-forth, Monarez said, “It is not something I would do. I welcome an open and honest debate and scientific discourse.”
“Disappointed that we don’t get a little better answer from that,” Paul remarked.
Paul also asked Monarez about potentially dangerous research conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, the lab that many international intelligence agencies suspect could have originated the COVID-19 pandemic.
He questioned the nominee about whether U.S.-funded research conducted at the Wuhan lab should have been subject to review under the protocols established under the Obama administration to scrutinize so-called “gain-of-function” research.
“I haven’t had an opportunity to look at that research, but I share your concern about gain-of-function,” Monarez said.
“There was about 10 books written about it,” Paul responded. “I mean, we’ve been talking about it– 15 million people died. You’re going to be in charge of infectious disease, you’d think you might have an opinion on where this came from.”
Monarez’s path to confirmation would be difficult without Paul’s support.
Conflict with Trump or Kennedy
Democrats pressed Monarez at several points about whether she agreed with Kennedy’s views on vaccines and whether she would defy Kennedy or Trump in certain circumstances.
Monarez sought to convey that she favors vaccines to prevent disease while avoiding any suggestion that she would be at odds with the Trump administration.
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) asked her directly if she would follow an order from Trump to break the law, a question Hassan has asked of every Trump nominee during the new administration’s slew of confirmation hearings.
Monarez responded that she would follow the law, but that “the president would never ask me to break the law.”
Hassan also asked if Monarez would confront Kennedy if she disagreed with him.
“He has said he values independent thinking,” Monarez responded. “I am an independent thinker and a scientist.”
Several senators pressed Monarez about ACIP. Kennedy removed all the panel members this month, saying they had conflicts of interest, and has begun replacing them with members of his choosing, including prominent vaccine skeptics.
Monarez steered clear of criticizing Kennedy for overhauling the panel and defended people’s right to present skeptical perspectives of vaccines at its meetings.
But she also supported ACIP and its recommendations.
The panel “has a very vital role to play and it must make sure that it is using science and evidence to drive that decision-making,” Monarez told Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the chairman of the HELP committee, who has had a complicated relationship with Kennedy.
Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) noted that many childhood vaccines would become prohibitively expensive for many families if not backed by the ACIP and CDC. ACIP moved Wednesday to explore the “cumulative effects” of childhood vaccinations.
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In the back-and-forth, Monarez gave a vote of confidence in childhood vaccinations as lowering mortality.
“Vaccines absolutely save lives,” she said.