During Wednesday's Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) questioned Susan Monarez, President Trump's nominee to be the director of the Centers for Disease Control.
00:05Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank you, Doctor, for being here today, and congratulations
00:10on your nomination.
00:12I'm going to start with a straightforward question that I ask every nominee.
00:15If directed by the president to take action that would break the law, would you follow
00:19the law or follow the president's directive?
00:22The president would never ask me to break the law.
00:26And if a president did, would you follow the law or follow the directive?
00:29We'll always follow the law, and the president would never ask me to break the law.
00:33Well, I'd ask you to review recent facts and perhaps reflect on that answer.
00:39Let me move to a second question.
00:41Doctor, the CDC supports critical local work in New Hampshire to fight addiction and overdoses,
00:48including funding that helps prevent addiction in youth, as well as a grant that helps New
00:52Hampshire track overdose deaths.
00:54Doctor, if you're confirmed, can you commit to continuing these life-saving programs at
00:59the CDC?
01:00So, CDC is moving towards getting back to its core mission of preventing, detecting, and
01:05responding to infectious diseases and emerging threats.
01:09If I am confirmed as a CDC director, I will look into and make sure that we have effective
01:14continuity of these key public health activities as they transition to other parts of the organization.
01:19Well, I want to make sure that these services remain in place because they have been life-saving
01:25and critical not only to individuals but to our communities and, frankly, to our economy
01:31in terms of workforce.
01:32So, we will follow up with you on that.
01:35One critical role of the CDC director is to help protect children from lethal infectious diseases.
01:41The CDC director can't perform this critical role unless they are politically independent,
01:46which means that you must be willing to disagree with political leaders based on scientific evidence.
01:52So, is there anything that you disagree with Secretary Kennedy about?
01:58If I'm confirmed as CDC director, I look forward to having technical discussions with the secretary.
02:06He has said he values and prioritizes independent thinking and using science to drive decision-making.
02:13I am an independent thinker and I am a scientist and I will welcome the opportunity to share my opinions based on science and evidence with him as he makes some of these very difficult decisions.
02:26Is there anything you disagree with him about?
02:28So, look, if I'm confirmed as a CDC director, I look forward to supporting the secretary with science and evidence and making sure that I am giving him the best information possible
02:40to help support some of these critical decisions.
02:43Well, let's go to some specifics then.
02:44When you were acting director of the CDC, Secretary Kennedy stated, quote,
02:49it's very, very difficult for measles to kill a healthy person, close quote.
02:55Do you have any scientific concerns about Secretary Kennedy's statement?
02:59So, measles is an important public health threat and we have to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to prevent and mitigate the spread.
03:09Do you have any concerns about a statement?
03:11Didn't a child die from measles while you were acting CDC director?
03:15See, measles can be lethal.
03:17We know from historical data that in populations, unvaccinated populations, that one in a thousand.
03:28Right.
03:29So, excuse me for interrupting, but I have limited time.
03:32So, when the secretary said it's very, very difficult for measles to kill a healthy person, no concerns from you about that?
03:38So, look, we know that measles can be fatal in one in a thousand individuals.
03:44And, look, these are very critical issues that we need to be able to-
03:48Right.
03:49Which is why you're being able to independently state in public that you differ with the secretary is a really, really important thing.
03:56And, right now, you're showing a real reluctance to do this.
03:59What about when Secretary Kennedy said, again, while you were CDC acting director, that cod liver oil and vitamin A have, quote,
04:0887 percent effectiveness, close quote, for preventing death from measles.
04:13Do you agree with that from a scientific perspective?
04:15So, there are no FDA approved antivirals or aligned treatments for the measles.
04:27We do know that vitamin A has been approved by the WHO and has been supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics as an effective supportive therapy to-
04:38And so, where's the science that says it's 87 percent effective?
04:41So, I'm not familiar with that quote.
04:44I'm not familiar with the specific statistic.
04:47But, if I am confirmed as a CDC director, I'm happy to look into it and follow up with you.
04:51Well, for the record and with a request for unanimous consent, Mr. Chair, I have a copy of an article from the New York Times entitled,
05:02I feel like I've been lied to when a measles outbreak hits home from somebody who followed Secretary Kennedy's kind of alternative treatment theories in Texas,
05:12whose family got very, very, very ill, almost died because of measles.
05:18I am very concerned that a CDC nominee who says she wants to be independent and will apply science is so unwilling to speak publicly about scientific evidence that contradicts the Secretary.
