Rand Paul comes up against Susan Monarez on the recommendations of the infant vaccine

Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., Clashed with Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT., And former CDC director Susan Monarez to recommend vaccines for infants on Wednesday.

The back and forth occurred during a hearing in the Senate on the decision of the Secretary of Health and Social Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to oust Monarez last month. Monarez says it was forced not to refuse to dismiss persons responsible for the recommendations of the CDC vaccine, arguing that there is no scientific support to withdraw certain vaccines from the list.

Paul sought to turn the tables of the former official during his interrogation.

“When we discuss science here, we must discuss what is science in favor of giving the vaccine to a 6 -month -old child, and what are the advantages of this? And there is no advantage of hospitalization or death. So what would the risk of this vaccine be,” said Paul.

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Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., Faced himself with Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT., During a Senate audience on Wednesday. (Eric Lee / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“You will not dismiss the people who say that we must vaccinate our children at 6 months. This is what you refused to shoot,” he pressed.

“This assertion is not proportionate to the experience I had with the people who were identified to be dismissed,” replied Monarez while Paul cut it.

“Did the people you refused to shoot,” said Paul before Sanders then intervene: “She is about to answer the question.”

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Paul then argued that “we must” delete the recommendations that infants receive the COVVI-19 vaccine and others which, according to them, are not relevant to children.

Susan Monarerez, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), during an audience of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in Washington, DC, Wednesday, September 17, 2025. (GRAEME SLOAN / BLOOMBERG via Getty Images)

“What is the medical reason to give a hepatitis-B vaccine to a newborn baby whose mother has no hepatitis?” Paul asked.

Sanders then prohibited again while Paul spoke out against Monarez, who did not answer the question directly.

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“You spent your time in Bernie, I have mine,” said Paul at the time before returning to Monarez. “What is the reason and medical scientific proof to give a newborn a vaccine against hepatitis-B if the mother is negative hep-b?”

Sanders interrupted Paul’s interrogations several times during an audience of the Senate on Wednesday. (Valerie Plesch / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Monarez again refused to answer the question directly, and Paul argued that “the burden should be on you” to prove that the vaccines recommended for infants are really useful.

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“You want to make all children take this? The burden is on you,” he said.