Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said his fired CDC director lied in an op-ed claiming she was told to “preapprove” recommendations from a newly formed vaccine advisory panel.
Mr. Kennedy denied the claim during a fiery face-off with Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee, where he answered questions Thursday about the Trump administration’s 2026 health care agenda.
Hours before Mr. Kennedy engaged with lawmakers, his ousted director of the Centers for Disease Control bashed his leadership in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
“I was told to preapprove the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled with people who have publicly expressed anti-vaccine rhetoric,” Susan Monarez wrote.
Mr. Kennedy claimed it never happened.
“I did not say that to her and I never had a private meeting with her,” Mr. Kennedy said.
Asked by Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the finance panel, if Ms. Monarez was “lying today to the American people in The Wall Street Journal,” Mr. Kennedy said, “Yes.”
Mr. Kennedy appeared in Congress amid backlash over the department’s emerging vaccine policies under his leadership.
In June, Mr. Kennedy fired the CDC’s longstanding vaccine advisory committee and reconstituted it with new scientists and doctors, among them vaccine skeptics.
Critics fear the panel will radically alter and limit vaccine schedules for children.
The CDC earlier this year limited COVID-19 vaccines to people 65 and older and those with health problems. Mr. Kennedy also cut $500 million in federal funds for research and development of mRNA vaccines amid questions about their efficacy and safety. The COVID-19 shot, an mRNA vaccine, is tied to myocarditis, particularly in young men, for example.
Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican, sided with Mr. Kennedy at the hearing and said federal data show more than 30,000 adverse injuries were reported in connection with the COVID-19 shot.
Democrats attacked Mr. Kennedy over his leadership and his health care views.
Mr. Kennedy, who is spearheading a Make America Healthy Again agenda centered on nutrition and exercise, wants greater scrutiny of vaccines. He believed the advisory board he fired was skewed by members with ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Democrats accuse him of rejecting science and medicine.
“You are perpetrating hoaxes as the secretary of health, so you’re undermining the whole health care delivery solutions on the table to cover more Americans, and you’re taking away the science and technology that has made us the leader according to the first Trump administration,” Sen. Maria Cantwell, Washington Democrat, said.
Mr. Wyden accused Mr. Kennedy of working to limit children’s access to vaccines.
Mr. Kennedy fought back against the withering criticism, arguing he’s making the agency more trustworthy by eliminating conflicts of interest and providing more safety research on vaccines.
He accused longtime Democrats on the panel of doing nothing while the health of the nation’s children has declined over the years.
“Senator, you’ve sat in that chair for how long? Twenty, 25 years, while the chronic disease in our children went up to 76% and you said nothing. You never ask the question, why it’s happening,” Mr. Kennedy shot back at Mr. Wyden. “Why is this happening today? For the first time in 20 years, infant mortality has increased in our country. It’s not because I came in here. It’s because of what happened during the Biden administration, and that is what we’re going to end.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.