On Wednesday, Dr. Susan Monarez was removed from her weeks-long role as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And a fellow now-former official is now revealing that Monarez refused to do something illegal, and refused to sign off on anything contrary to science.
Speaking to MSNBC on Thursday, former Acting CDC Director Dr. Richard Besser said he maintains contact with the now-former CDC director in his current role as CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In speaking to Monarez, he asked if there were any "lines that she was unwilling to cross."
"What she said to me was that — she said that she would never do anything that was illegal, and that she would never do anything that flew in the face of science. And that, on Monday, she was asked to do both of those things," said Besser.
Monarez indicated she was ordered by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to fire the entire leadership team and was instructed to endorse any recommendations that emerge from the meeting scheduled in a few weeks with the new Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
In June, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the vaccine advisory board and followed it with an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, trashing the board as lacking the public's trust. Kennedy has since appointed his own board, which includes anti-vaccine nominees, as the BBC reported.
"We've already seen recommendations come out of that newly formed body that are not evidence-based, and so she was told to resign, and she refused," said Besser, noting that Monarez expected to then be fired.
"At the time we spoke yesterday, that had not taken place yet," he noted.
Besser went on to say that during President Donald Trump's first term, a lot of progress was made on vaccines, and all of that is being reversed with thousands of people being cut from the CDC and billions of dollars in research and support. It all unfolds as the leader of HHS has a "vehement opposition to vaccines" and a "fringe perspective."
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