All posts tagged "Cdc"

Trump critic Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) on Wednesday pressed the president's nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, asking if she would stand up to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Politico reported.

Erica Schwartz, if nominated, would work under Kennedy, who previously fired Susan Monarez for pushing back on the Trump cabinet member's vaccine agenda, according to Politico. Schwartz apparently struggled to convince the senators that she would push back against Kennedy during the Senate committee for her confirmation.

"I feel like I’m having to go after this question a little bit more firmly than I feel like I should," Cassidy told Schwartz. "You can be CDC director and just take orders. We need a CDC director who will actually stand up to crazy, stupid things being said that undermine faith in immunization."...

A health expert Friday warned that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has made a dangerous error after dropping its recommendation that newborns get the hepatitis B vaccine.

Former CDC director Tom Frieden criticized the body, and told CNN that he was hopeful that health leaders, including pediatricians, OBGYNs, nurses and other specialists, will continue to administer that vaccine — which has been part of the universal recommendation for children's vaccine schedule. He urged that experts "ignore what this hand-picked, unscientific group of people" have done.

"This is a big mistake that would endanger American children. Don't mess with success," Frieden said. "The universal recommendation, since it's been applied, has not resulted in any significant harm to children." ...

Donald Trump's administration is walking back about half of a reported 1,000 health agency cuts.

MSNBC senior reporter Brandy Zadrozny was on air on Saturday when she broke the news, saying she had received a call from an official from HHS "literally five minutes" prior to going on. The cuts were previously reported.

After explaining the wide-ranging cuts, she said, "However literally just five minutes ago, I got a call from an HHS official that said, oops, we didn't actually mean to do that."...

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) offered an apology to fired CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez on Wednesday during the Senate Health Committee hearing, surprising CNN anchor Brianna Keilar.

"That apology from Sen. Kaine was really something," Keilar said, adding that officials who heard her testimony over her resignation called her and other CDC officials who resigned "heroes."

Monarez was fired by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy disputes. In the hearing, Monarez testified that Kennedy asked her not to talk to senators and pressured her to give him full pre-approval over any changes to vaccine policies at the agency. She, along with other ousted colleagues, warned the senators that Kennedy is risking Americans' public health....

The chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee pushed back at one of his GOP colleagues as she attempted to incorporate him into her conspiracy theory about the firing of the CDC’s Dr. Susan Monarez.

Given time to question the former CDC director who was fired by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., GOP Sen. Ashley Moody, who was appointed to the seat previously occupied by Marco Rubio, instead used the majority of her time asking who Monarez’s lawyers are as she attempted to paint an anti-Donald Trump conspiracy.

Moody repeatedly asked the doctor who her lawyers are and when she hired them.....

Laughter broke out during a Senate Health Committee hearing Wednesday for Dr. Susan Monarez, the former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who was fired by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy disputes.

In a quick spat between Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) over whether to change committee rules and swear in Monarez and Dr. Debra Houry, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) pointed out that Kennedy — who called Monarez a liar earlier this month in a hearing with the committee — was not sworn in and rejected the move, the New York Times reports.

"I will note that it's against the law to lie to congress anyway," Cassidy said during the hearing....