Backlash as White House chooses Robert F Kennedy Jr deputy to run CDC
How did your country report this? Share your view in the comments.
Diverging Reports Breakdown
Backlash as White House chooses Robert F Kennedy Jr deputy to run CDC – US politics live
White House picks Kennedy deputy Jim O’Neill to run CDC. Decision comes as standoff over the firing of director Susan Monarez deepens. Monarez’s lawyers claim she will not depart unless Donald Trump himself removes her. Senior CDC vaccine research and public health leaders who resigned in protest told hundreds of supporters across the street from the campus on Thursday that the Trump administration needs to ‘get politics out of public health’ Senator Susan Collins said she was ‘alarmed’ by Monarez’s firing.
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We begin with news that the White House has chosen a deputy of Robert F Kennedy Jr to serve as the acting head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a decision that comes as the standoff over the firing of director Susan Monarez has deepened, with Monarez’s lawyers claiming she will not depart unless Donald Trump himself removes her.
A White House official confirmed to the Guardian that Jim O’Neill, currently the deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), had been selected to temporarily lead the public health agency, giving Kennedy an ally in his efforts to overhaul US vaccine policy.
Unlike Monarez, O’Neill, a former investment executive, does not have a medical or scientific background. He served as a former speechwriter for the health department during the George W Bush administration, and went on to work for the tech investor and conservative megadonor Peter Thiel.
Senator Bill Cassidy, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, called on the department’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to indefinitely postpone its upcoming 18 September meeting.
He said:
Serious allegations have been made about the meeting agenda, membership and lack of scientific process being followed for the now announced September ACIP meeting.
Meanwhile, senator Susan Collins said she was “alarmed” by Monarez’s firing, adding:
Susan Monarez is a highly capable scientist who brought a wealth of experience to the agency. While I recognize that the CDC director serves at the pleasure of the president, I am alarmed that she has been fired after only three weeks on the job. Last night I talked with former director Monarez about her removal. I agree with chairman Bill Cassidy, who heads the Senate committee with jurisdiction over the CDC, that this matter warrants congressional oversight.
It came as senior CDC vaccine research and public health leaders who resigned in protest told hundreds of supporters across the street from the campus on Thursday that the Trump administration needs to “get politics out of public health”.
In other developments: