| |  | The Lead Brief | NEW: Susan Monarez told senators today that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told her the vaccine schedule for children would be changing in September — demanding that she approve the changes before even knowing what they were. Monarez, who was fired last month as head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention amid a clash with Kennedy over vaccines, is testifying before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The testimony is prompting new questions ahead of a meeting of vaccine advisers this week. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is expected to vote on recommendations for updated covid-19 shots, and vaccines for hepatitis B and measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV). The leader of the committee, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), is holding the hearing — that was underway as your host is typing this — as part of congressional oversight into Kennedy’s stewardship of the nation’s health agencies. Cassidy said he’s planning to invite current HHS officials to future hearings and allow them to respond. Monarez “was tasked with restoring the CDC to its core mission after decades of bureaucratic inertia, politicized science, and mission creep eroded its purpose and squandered public trust — and she refused to do it,” said HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon about Monarez’s firing. Some key takeaways: → Although some Republican lawmakers have expressed concerns about the administration’s actions on vaccine policy — particularly when presented with polling about how the shots are still popular with their base — there might not be much oversight movement following the hearing. Cassidy, a physician, has emerged as a vocal critic of Kennedy’s decisions involving vaccines. But other Republicans on the panel — including Sens. Rand Paul (Kentucky) and Roger Marshall (Kansas), a former ophthalmologist and obstetrician-gynecologist, respectively — cast doubt on current vaccine recommendations or downplayed the upheaval at the health agencies. Several GOP senators questioned Monarez and Debra Houry, who served as the CDC’s chief medical officer before resigning in protest, about the lawyers they’d hired after their departure from the CDC — Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell, who’ve represented multiple clients critical of President Donald Trump. → Both Monarez and Houry said they were concerned that the rhetoric and actions of the Kennedy-led HHS could put public health officials at risk, in addition to leaving the country unprepared to deal with future pandemics and the ability to prevent chronic diseases. “We’re going to see kids dying of vaccine-preventable diseases,” Houry said. → Both Monarez and Houry testified that Kennedy and other political officials are attempting to influence the vaccine recommendations. Monarez said Kennedy told her “he spoke to the president every day about changing the childhood vaccine schedule.” Houry said political appointees — rather than career scientists — were involved in setting ACIP’s agenda for the first time in her decade at the CDC. She also said one political appointee brushed off suggestions about discussing certain questions involving hepatitis B vaccines because it would “bias” moving away from giving babies the shot when they’re born. “The upcoming ACIP meeting will decide the outcome of the childhood vaccine schedule. Any potential changes to the childhood vaccine schedule will be based on the latest available science and only after the ACIP recommends it and the Acting CDC Director [Jim O’Neill] reviews and approves those recommendations,” Nixon said. “Susan verbally approved the ACIP agenda and the date of the meeting scheduled for the week on August 4th.” Check out the full write-up of the hearing from The Washington Post’s Rachel Roubein, Dan Diamond and Mariana Alfaro, in which they highlight the allegations of political interference, the childhood vaccine schedule and the back and forth over the hepatitis vaccine. Balancing Act Cassidy has to walk a line between criticizing the health secretary and not angering Trump, who called Cassidy a “disloyal lightweight” last year for voting to impeach him in 2021. The stakes are high: The Louisiana Republican is up for reelection in 2026. Dan and Rachel also reported on the dynamic yesterday for The Post, writing that Cassidy is making efforts to placate the president — in particular, calling for Trump to receive a Nobel Peace Prize for his Operation Warp Speed work. Further, the hearing’s title — called, in part, “Restoring Trust Through Radical Transparency” — borrows from Trump’s and Kennedy’s vows to institute radical transparency in government. Dan and Rachel spoke with people close to Cassidy and his staff, who told them the senator is focused on “fact-finding” about Monarez’s abrupt ouster, coronavirus vaccines and other potentially explosive issues. | 
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