US health system heading to ‘very dangerous place’ under vaccine sceptics

Susan Monarez gave evidence to the Senate committee (Jose Luis Magana/AP)

America’s public health system is heading to a “very dangerous place” with Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and his team of anti-vaccine advisers in charge, fired Centres for Disease Control and Prevention chief Susan Monarez has warned senators.

Describing extraordinary turmoil inside the nation’s health agencies, Ms Monarez and former CDC chief medical officer Debra Houry described exchanges in which Mr Kennedy or political advisers rebuffed data supporting the safety and efficacy of vaccines.