Overview

• In a heated Senate hearing, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called the firing of CDC director Susan Monarez “absolutely necessary,” castigated the agency’s pandemic response, and promoted hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin for Covid.
• Susan Monarez said she will sue over her removal, with her lawyers and a Wall Street Journal op-ed asserting she refused “unscientific” directives and insisted on rigorous review of vaccine recommendations.
• Four senior CDC officials—Debra Houry, Demetre Daskalakis, Daniel Jernigan and Jennifer Layden—resigned after the ouster, raising alarms about political interference and the collapse of a firewall between science and ideology.
• Kennedy has cut roughly $500 million from mRNA vaccine research, scaled back some Covid vaccination guidance, and dismissed the federal immunization advisory panel before installing new members.
• Democrats demanded his resignation and two Republican senators criticized the research cuts, as President Trump praised established vaccines and warned Florida against eliminating vaccine requirements.