Washington — Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, called on the Department of Health and Human Services Thursday to “indefinitely postpone” its vaccine advisory committee meeting next month amid a slew of departures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“If the meeting proceeds, any recommendations made should be rejected as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership,” Cassidy said in a statement.
The Trump administration is trying to fire CDC Director Susan Monarez, less than a month after she was confirmed by the Senate, although her lawyers have pushed back on the legality of her ouster.
Meanwhile, several other top CDC officials resigned Wednesday, pointing to disagreements with the Trump administration over its vaccine policy, among other things.
The agenda for the Sept. 18 vaccine advisory committee meeting is set to include discussions of vaccines for COVID-19, Hepatitis B, RSV and the MMRV measles, mumps, rubella, varicella vaccine, and could entail scheduling votes on recommendations for these vaccines.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he wouldn’t comment on personnel issues in an appearance on Fox News Thursday, but claimed that “the CDC has problems,” citing COVID-19 protocols among them.
“We need to look at the priorities of the agency, if there’s really a deeply, deeply embedded, I would say, malaise at the agency,” Kennedy said. “And we need strong leadership that will go in there and that will be able to execute on President Trump’s broad ambitions.”
In June, Kennedy said he was “retiring” all 17 members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, independent medical and public health experts who advise and vote on the CDC’s vaccine recommendations. Kennedy replaced the committee members with eight of his own picks.
Cassidy’s call to postpone the vaccine meeting is the second he’s made under Kennedy’s leadership — after he did the same in June — and represents a break with the HHS secretary. In February, Kennedy’s confirmation to the post came only after Cassidy delivered the key vote to advance the nomination out of committee. The Louisiana Republican, a medical doctor, had expressed misgivings over Kennedy’s nomination because of the doubts he has raised about vaccines for decades.
Cassidy ultimately supported Kennedy’s nomination, citing “serious commitments” he said he’d received from the administration. He later said Kennedy and the administration had agreed that he would speak with the secretary multiple times a month, and the pair “would have an unprecedentedly close collaborative working relationship.”
In his statement Thursday, Cassidy said allegations have been made about the vaccine meeting “agenda, membership, and lack of scientific process being followed.”
“These decisions directly impact children’s health and the meeting should not occur until significant oversight has been conducted,” the Louisiana senator said.
Cassidy said in a post on X after news of the CDC departures Wednesday that the “high profile departures will require oversight by the HELP Committee.”
Ranking Member Bernie Sanders sent a letter to Cassidy Thursday calling for a bipartisan investigation into Monarez’s firing. The Vermont senator also urged the chairman to hold a hearing with Kennedy, Monarez and the CDC leaders who stepped down.
“The American people should hear directly from Secretary Kennedy and Dr. Monarez and every member of our committee should be able to ask questions and get honest answers from them,” Sanders said.
The Senate Finance Committee announced a hearing next Thursday with Secretary Kennedy on President Trump’s health care agenda. The proceeding was previously in the works prior to controversy, according to a committee aide, who noted the panel does not have jurisdiction over the CDC.
A handful of congressional Democrats have called for Kennedy to resign or be fired over the mass exodus from the health agency.
“We cannot let RFK Jr. burn what’s left of the CDC and our other critical health agencies to the ground—he must be fired,” Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said in a statement.
The White House defended Kennedy and the decision to terminate Monarez. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said a replacement would be named by the president or the HHS secretary.
“The secretary asked her to resign – she said she would and then she didn’t, so the president fired her, which he has every right to do,” Leavitt told reporters. “If people are not aligned with the president’s vision and the secretary’s vision to make this country healthy again, then we will gladly show them the door.”