RFK JR accuses the CDC director of lying on vaccine pressure

The Secretary of Health and Social Services (HHS), Robert F. Kennedy Jr., accused his former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of lying on vaccination recommendations.

Kennedy appeared on Thursday in front of the Senate finance committee for an audience focused on the health program of President Donald Trump, nicknamed Make America Healthy Again (Maha) on the campaign track last year.

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The Secretary of Health and Social Services, Robert Kennedy Jr., arrives to testify to the Senate finance committee at the Dirksen Senate Board on September 4, 2025 in Washington, DC (Andrew Harnik)

But the recent torment at the CDC caused by the dismissal of former CDC director Susan Monarez and the exodus of several senior officials, as well as Kennedy’s point of view on vaccines, has become a focal point for the Senate Republicans and Panel Democrats.

During an ardent exchange at the start of the hearing between Kennedy and Senator Ron Wyden, the best democrat of the Senatorial Finance Committee, Kennedy accused Monarez of lying in a recent Wall Street Journal Opinion article.

Monarez was dismissed less than a month after being confirmed by the Senate and was accused of his editorial than during a meeting with the secretary last month, she was forced to resign or to be dismissed after being ordered to “pre-apply the recommendations of a vaccine rhetoric”.

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The president of the Ron Wyden committee, D-ear., Illustrated during an audience of the senatorial finance committee on Capitol Hill on February 8, 2022 in Washington, DC (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)

Wyden wondered if Kennedy had told Monarez to “simply accompany the recommendations of vaccines even if she did not think that such recommendations were aligned with scientific evidence?”

“Yes or no? Do you have the opportunity to call him a liar. If you say you haven’t done it,” said Oregon Democrat. “But I would like to see you answer this.”

“No,” said Kennedy. “No, I didn’t tell her that. And I never had a private meeting with her.”

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Susan Monarerez saw a testimony during its June confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the Dirksen Senate Building on June 25, 2025. (Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images)

Kennedy asserted earlier in the hearing than the reason why he had dismissed Monarez, as well as the entire CDC vaccine recommendation committee to restore the CDC to “the Order” of health care.

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“America is home to 4.2% of the world’s population. However, we have had almost 20% of deaths. We have literally made worse than any country in the world. And the inhabitants of the CDC who supervised this process, which put masks on our children, who closed our schools, are the people who will leave,” said Kennedy. “And that’s why we need a new bold, competent and creative leadership at the CDC.”

“People are able and willing to trace a new course,” he continued. “As my father said one day,” progress is a good word, (but) change (is a motivator). And change has its enemies. “This is why we need new blood at the CDC.”