WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today released the following statement after hundreds of CDC workers walked out of their job to protest the Trump administration’s decision to oust senior scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including by firing CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez.
 
I applaud the workers at CDC for standing up for science and protesting the reckless decision of Secretary Kennedy to push out leading scientists from the agency. Speaking up takes real courage.
 
Now is the time for all of us — whether you are a Democrat, Republican, independent, progressive or conservative — to come together and say enough is enough. Vaccines are one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. We will not stand by silently as Secretary Kennedy takes them away.
 
Let us be clear: We are witnessing a full-blown war on science, on public health, and on truth itself. In just six months, Secretary Kennedy has dismantled the vaccine review process, narrowed access to life-saving COVID vaccines and filled scientific advisory boards with conspiracy theorists and ideologues.
 
Dr. Monarez was reportedly fired because she refused to serve as a rubber stamp for Secretary Kennedy’s dangerous anti-vaccine crusade. That is outrageous and unacceptable.
 
History will not look kindly on those who stayed silent in the face of this assault on science. We have a moral responsibility to act now.