Overview

• The Senate HELP Committee scheduled testimony for Sept. 17 from former CDC director Susan Monarez and former senior official Debra Houry.
• HHS officials will be invited to respond at a subsequent hearing, according to the committee’s notice.
• Monarez says she was removed after refusing to pre-approve recommendations from a Kennedy-repopulated advisory panel, while Kennedy denied that account and called her untrustworthy in Senate testimony.
• The hearing comes one day before an ACIP meeting that follows the removal of all 17 prior members and will consider changes to Hepatitis B, RSV, and COVID-19 vaccine recommendations.
• Houry and other top CDC officials resigned during the upheaval, bipartisan lawmakers raised concerns, and more than 1,000 current and former HHS employees have urged Kennedy to resign, according to reporting.