What Really Happened at the CDC

America Dissected

Incision Media LLC

Politics, News, Society & Culture

4.6 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 18 September 2025

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Abdul and Katelyn discuss the week in public health, which includes: Former CDC Director Susan Monarez’s Senate testimony, where she revealed a series of bombshell revelations about the chaos in the department This week's ACIP meeting, and how it might affect access to the Hepatitis B vaccine The good news that private insurers will be covering the cost of vaccines as normal The Trump Administration’s move to clamp down on pharmaceutical ads Then Abdul sits down with Dr. Annette Campbell-Anderson, Deputy Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Safe and Healthy Schools, to discuss why more schools across the country are implementing cell phone bans. Check out our shop at store.americadissected.com for our new America Dissected merch – including logo shirts, hoodies and mugs. And don’t miss our “Vaccines Work. Science Matters.” t-shirts! This show would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors. America Dissected invites you to check them out. This episode was brought to you by: Incogni: Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code DISSECTED at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/dissected NPR Life Kit: Listen now to the Life Kit podcast from NPR. ExpressVPN: Secure your online data today by visiting ExpressVPN.com/Dissected to find out how you can get up to four extra months FREE.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Former CDC director Susan Minares has her say.
0:11.2	This is America Dissected.
0:12.3	I'm your host, Dr. Abdul Al-Salé.
0:14.1	And I'm your co-host, Dr. Caitlin Jadalina.
0:16.6	And recording this on Wednesday, September 17th, at 1.30 p.m. Eastern time after a dozy of a
0:22.5	Senate hearing involving former CDC director Susan Minares. So let's begin with that
0:31.3	Senate hearing that continues to be underway as we speak. Former CDC director Susan Minares is on
0:35.6	Capitol Hill. You may recall that she was fired by Donald Trump after refusing to resign when she was
0:41.3	pressured to do so by RFK Jr.
0:43.8	Lawmakers invited her to come to the Senate to answer their questions and explain what
0:48.0	led to her firing.
0:49.1	There's a couple of top lines that I think are really important to understand here.
0:52.1	The question ultimately was, did RFK Jr. pressure her to resign under pretenses that were
0:58.0	fair or unfair?
0:59.1	Recalled that a few weeks ago, in his testimony, RFK Jr. said that he had pressured her to
1:03.4	resign in large part because she had not committed to being truthful.
1:07.8	What came out in these hearings is that RFK Jr. had demanded that she commit in advance
1:11.6	to approving every recommendation made by his new ACIP panel, quote, regardless of the scientific
1:17.1	evidence. And as she told it, if she didn't agree to this, Kennedy told her that she had to resign.
1:22.0	She also said that Kennedy sent her a directive, which she said needed approval from Donald
1:25.6	Trump's political appointees before she
1:27.7	could make policy and personnel decisions. And we want to share with you an additional
	...

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