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... Emails indicate that Kennedy directed the CDC's vaccine advisory panel to restrict access to vaccines, allowed researchers to access "confidential data" to indicate the disproven claim that vaccines cause autism and changed recommendations for the public to receive COVID-19 shots without input from the CDC.

Other emails also show that Kennedy's then-chief of staff, Matthew Buckham, emailed former CDC Director Susan Monarez in August 2025 about the need for a "political review of major decisions at CDC ... to ensure that [the Immediate Office of the Secretary] and the CDC political leadership all have eyes on the decisions for approval/changes before they go into effect."

Less than a week later, Kennedy fired Monarez "for failing to rubber stamp recommendations from" the CDC's vaccine panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, Sanders said in a statement.

Sanders, the ranking member on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), blasted Monarez's firing as "outrageous," accusing Kennedy of firing her "for her commitment to public health and vaccines." Sanders requested a bipartisan investigation into her firing and called on Kennedy to resign. ...