WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans split on Wednesday over whether the Trump administration was justified in pressuring former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez to adhere strictly to its agenda. Several GOP lawmakers questioned Monarez’s loyalty to the president while moderates openly worried the Trump administration is degrading trust in public health.

Monarez, who was fired 29 days into the job, told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. required staff to sign off on any CDC policy changes and that Kennedy plans to change the childhood immunization schedule later this month, whether or not the scientific data supports it.

The hearing precedes the first meeting of Kennedy’s newly redesigned vaccine advisory committee, which meets Thursday.

Monarez appeared with former CDC Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry. The officials said they are worried the vaccine panel will make decisions that don’t follow scientific data in an effort to align with Kennedy’s anti-vaccine views.

Monarez told lawmakers she was removed for not signing off on his vaccine advisers’ recommendations ahead of time and for refusing to fire career officials who disagreed with Kennedy. In contrast, Kennedy told the Senate Finance Committee on Sept. 4 that Monarez was removed because she told him she was not trustworthy.

“Now, ultimately, we all have an obligation of truth,” Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., said. “(It) may be impossible to tell who was telling the truth.”

Cassidy and some GOP senators asked the officials whether decisions were being made from a scientific standpoint.

“I believe preventable diseases will return,” Monarez replied to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., when asked about what might happen if Kennedy moves forward. “I believe that we will have our children harmed for things that we know they do not need to be harmed by.”

One issue is the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine, which is on agenda for the agency’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices this week.

Monarez told the committee Kennedy wants to end the practice of giving hepatitis B vaccines to infants at birth, adding that she and CDC scientists were being pressured to go along. Monarez said she provided data showing the need for the dose, but that Kennedy’s senior adviser disregarded the data because it went against the administration’s narrative. At that, Cassidy — a longtime proponent of hepatitis vaccination — shook his head.

Houry added that Kennedy’s political appointees, acting on behalf of the secretary, want to move the birth dose to age 4.

Cassidy, a physician who specialized in liver disease, said he has seen people needlessly die of hepatitis B. In the decade following the approval of the birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine, newborn infections decreased by 68%, he said.

“That is an accomplishment to make America healthy again, and we should stand up and salute the people that made that decision,” Cassidy said.

Sen Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she found it concerning that Houry was the last nonpolitical appointee in the CDC Office of the Director before she left, and is worried about the lack of nonpolitical scientists at the CDC.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she was alarmed that Kennedy did not consult with Monarez once when replacing ousted members of the CDC vaccine advisory committee. Collins asked about the implications for public health if political staff is tasked with making decisions instead of career staff.

“It does put our children at risk. It puts at risk others that need these vaccines. And it takes us to a very dangerous place in public health,” Monarez told Collins.

Harsher questioning

Other than Cassidy, Murkowski and Collins, Republicans on the committee either accused Monarez of trying to undermine the Trump administration or misrepresenting Kennedy’s agenda. Some were combative and accused her of being untrustworthy.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., an ophthalmologist by training who’s frequently been critical of CDC recommendations, repeatedly questioned the utility of giving the COVID-19 vaccine to children. Paul said the current standard of providing it at six months should be changed and questioned the hepatitis B vaccine shot at birth.

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., an OB/GYN, accused Monarez and the CDC of forcing vaccines on people and presenting a “mandate” that is not ideologically aligned with Kennedy.

Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., questioned whether Monarez understood Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again agenda and why she stopped supporting it. Monarez said that she never stopped supporting the administration’s mission to make Americans healthier, but that she would not blindly approve decisions without data.

Banks and Florida Republican Sen. Ashley Moody each criticized Monarez’s choice of attorneys, whom Moody called “anti-Trump attorneys.”

“You have this whole network of people that’s trying to embarrass the president or go after the president, and now you are joining this group,” Moody said.

Moody repeatedly asked Monarez if she had an advanced plan to coordinate a “spectacle” around her firing by contacting Cassidy and writing an op-ed about her dismissal in the Wall Street Journal.

Cassidy jumped in after Moody’s questioning and said what Monarez did was entirely appropriate.

Sanders added: “I find it rather astounding that anyone is concerned that government heads of agencies talk to the elected officials of the United States of America. That’s what they are supposed to do.”

Kennedy directed Monarez not to speak to lawmakers during her tenure as CDC director, she told the committee.

“All we’re looking for is for you to be honest and you haven’t been,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R- Okla., said to Monarez after a tense exchange over what happened the day of her firing.

Mullin alleged that he has listened to a recording of the meeting between Monarez and Kennedy the day she was fired.

Cassidy said that in the interest of “radical transparency,” Kennedy should share the recording of the hearing, if it exists. He also questioned why only one senator has access to this recording. Cassidy later said that Mullin retracted his statements about the recording when talking to reporters.

Cassidy says he will ask Kennedy to testify before the committee to respond to Monarez’s claims.

After the hearing, Cassidy told reporters he would withhold judgment until then.

“The whole reason we did this is because I’m here to let the American people judge for themselves,” he said.

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(Sandhya Raman contributed to this report.)

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