Dem
47
GOP
53
On July 31, Susan Monarez started her new job as director of the Centers for Disease Control. Multiple reports in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and CNN say that she is about to be fired for disagreeing with HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. on vaccine policy. She is a microbiologist and believes that vaccines save lives. He is a crackpot who believes that they cause autism, despite the only "evidence" being one article years ago that the journal later retracted, while the author had his medical license revoked for fraud. But for Kennedy, one retracted article written by a certified quack is good enough to change national vaccine policy.
During her tenure at CDC, Monarez was expected to run all her plans by the chief of staff at CDC and also HHS, which effectively means she wasn't the real director.
During his Senate confirmation, Kennedy told the senators he had an open mind about vaccines and would look at the scientific evidence about them. Of course, he had no such intention whatsoever, and the hearing was just a charade, as usual. He has already taken many actions to try to rid the country of vaccines, including firing large numbers of experts on the subject. But who needs experts when you have a conspiracy theory?
Monarez, like Fed governor Lisa Cook, has said she will not leave. She says that because she was confirmed by the Senate, she is an officer of the United States and serves at the pleasure of the president, not at the pleasure of a cabinet secretary, so Kennedy's firing her is unlawful. Of course, Trump quickly backed up Kennedy, but this one is undoubtedly headed to the Supreme Court sooner or later. She is being represented by top lawyer Abbe Lowell (see below).
Kennedy has said he will announce to the world what the cause of autism is in September. This will be great because doctors don't know, and will surely be listening carefully to the Secretary to finally learn the truth. (V)