Olivia Troye - When Science Gets Fired: Dr. Monarez's Warning About RFK Jr. and the CDC

Today, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies before the Senate. But the most urgent testimony has already come from the woman he just forced out.

In The Wall Street Journal this morning, Dr. Susan Monarez describes with striking clarity something I witnessed firsthand during Trump’s first term. I urge you to read her entire op-ed, I’ve gifted the link so you can access it. In the pandemic response, I saw doctors and scientists bullied, sidelined, and silenced, forced to bend to political ideology rather than science. That was one of the breaking points for me, and ultimately why I became the public critic and Trump warning voice I am today. Now, we’ve come full circle. The same playbook is back, and the consequences are once again deadly serious.

Dr. Monarez, who lasted only 29 days as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before being pressured to resign, is someone I know well. I worked with her during my time at the Department of Homeland Security (2016–2018), and I can attest: she is a brilliant scientist, a steady leader in crisis, and above all, a public servant who has always put facts before politics.

In her op-ed, Monarez recounts how RFK Jr. told her to preapprove the recommendations of a newly stacked vaccine advisory panel filled with members who had publicly spread anti-vaccine rhetoric. She refused. She insisted on a rigorous, evidence-based review before any CDC recommendations were accepted or rejected. For defending science, she was shown the door. For the record, that panel is scheduled to meet on September 18–19. Monarez warns it is imperative that its recommendations not be rubber-stamped, but instead subjected to rigorous scientific review before being accepted or rejected.

https://www.livingitwitholiviatroye.com/p/when-science-gets-fired-dr-monarezs