Sen. Cassidy calls for vaccine advisory meeting to be postponed amid CDC departures [View all]

Source: CBS News

August 28, 2025 / 4:05 PM EDT


Washington — Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, called on the Department of Health and Human Services Thursday to "indefinitely postpone" its vaccine advisory committee meeting next month amid a slew of departures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "If the meeting proceeds, any recommendations made should be rejected as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership," Cassidy said in a statement.

The Trump administration is trying to fire CDC Director Susan Monarez, less than a month after she was confirmed by the Senate, although her lawyers have pushed back on the legality of her ouster. Meanwhile, several other top CDC officials resigned Wednesday, pointing to disagreements with the Trump administration over its vaccine policy, among other things. The agenda for the Sept. 18 vaccine advisory committee meeting is set to include discussions of vaccines for COVID-19, Hepatitis B, RSV and the MMRV measles, mumps, rubella, varicella vaccine, and could entail scheduling votes on recommendations for these vaccines.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he wouldn't comment on personnel issues in an appearance on Fox News Thursday, but claimed that "the CDC has problems," citing COVID-19 protocols among them. "We need to look at the priorities of the agency, if there's really a deeply, deeply embedded, I would say, malaise at the agency," Kennedy said. "And we need strong leadership that will go in there and that will be able to execute on President Trump's broad ambitions."

In June, Kennedy said he was "retiring" all 17 members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, independent medical and public health experts who advise and vote on the CDC's vaccine recommendations. Kennedy replaced the committee members with eight of his own picks. Cassidy's call to postpone the vaccine meeting is the second he's made under Kennedy's leadership — after he did the same in June — and represents a break with the HHS secretary.

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