By JESSICA DAMIANO

The third week of September is National Houseplant Week, a nod to the fact that we’re turning our attention to indoor plants. It’s a great time to explore a practice called kokedama and have a little fun making a special addition to our collections.

The Japanese method of growing plants in a living planter made of a moss-covered ball of soil, is a simple, DIY project that elevates common houseplants into works of art. They make great gifts, too.

Because roots growing in exposed soil dry out more quickly than potted ones, plants with low-water needs are ideal for kokedama. I make mine with spider plant “pups,” but you might also consider pothos or philodendron for low-light areas, or succulents for brighter spots.

This Dec. 1, 2019, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows the supplies needed to make a kokedama, sheet moss, peat moss and potting mix (left to right) laid out on a plate on Long Island, N.Y. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

What you’ll need

2 large bowls

Peat moss

Bonsai soil (or ordinary potting mix that contains peat moss and perlite)

Water

Preserved moss sheets (available at craft stores)

Scissors

Waxed thread or fishing line

A small plant

Directions

This Dec. 1, 2019, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows sheet moss soaking in a warm water bath on Long Island, N.Y. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

Start by placing a sheet of preserved moss into a bowl. Add warm water to cover it.

Take your plant out of its pot and gently remove excess soil from its roots. Set it aside.

Make your potting mix in the second bowl by combining 7 parts peat moss with 3 parts soil. Slowly and gradually add water to the mixture, combining it with your hands until you can form a firm ball large enough to contain your plant’s roots. Pack the ball tightly as if making a snowball. Toss it gently into the air and catch it; if it doesn’t break apart, you’ve achieved the right consistency.

Cut or split the ball in half, then place one half on either side of your plant’s roots, molding it back into a ball.

Next, remove the sheet of preserved moss from its water bath and place it face down on your work surface. Place your plant, right-side up, on the sheet, and wrap the sheet around the plant’s mud ball-encased roots. Use scissors to trim off any excess moss.

Secure the moss by wrapping waxed thread or fishing line around the ball in all directions, then tie it into place. Avoid using cotton or jute twine, as they will wear out over time.

Water your kokedama immediately by soaking the ball in a bowl of water for 15 minutes, or until it is fully saturated. Squeeze it gently, then place it in a colander in the sink until the water stops draining.

Feel the weight of the soaked ball, and when it feels light by comparison, water the plant again in the same fashion. Depending on the type of plant and the humidity in your home, you may need to water it anywhere from twice a week to once a month.

This Dec. 1, 2019, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows the process of wrapping the mud-encased roots of a small spider plant with sheet moss when making a kokedama on Long Island, N.Y. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

Caring for the plant

Display your kokedama on a decorative plate or suspend it from a plant hook (tie three lengths of waxed thread or fishing line to the string on three sides of the ball, then tie them together at the top to make a hanger). Grouping several kokedama plants together on a tray makes for an interesting centerpiece. Use your imagination!

To prevent kokedamas from drying out in arid climates or during winter when indoor heating is in use, consider running a humidifier nearby or placing them in a bathroom where daily showers provide humidity.

This Dec. 1, 2019, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows a spider plant “pup” held in place on one half of a split mud ball for use in making a kokedama on Long Island, N.Y. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

Prune the plant by up to half its size every spring to prevent it from outgrowing its kokedama, which would stress and ultimately kill it. It is possible to replant it into a larger ball, but only once, as a kokedama won’t be able to support larger roots.

Fertilize only once a year, in spring, by adding a quarter teaspoon of soluble organic fertilizer to the bowl when watering.

Jessica Damiano writes weekly gardening columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. You can sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice.

For more AP gardening stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/gardening.

National Hispanic Heritage Month begins on Sept. 15, and what is a celebration without delicious food? In San Diego, we’re very comfy with the dishes popular just on the other side of the border, but Mexico is a large and diverse country with other regional dishes that aren’t as well known in San Diego — and should be.

One of them is cochinita pibil. This is a traditional pork dish in Yucatán, a Mexican state located on the northern part of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Gulf of Mexico. The dish is the essence of Yucatec Maya culture.

“Traditionally, we’d use the whole pig,” explained Raul Casillas, the new creative chef at Puesto restaurants. “You marinate the pork overnight, then you wrap it in banana leaves and bury it in a hot pit, where it slow cooks for hours.”

Casillas, new creative chef at Puesto restaurants, blends ingredients for a cochinita pibil marinade. Casillas said he enjoys his “R&D opportunity to represent Mexico and do something cool.” (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

The marinade traditionally is a mixture of achiote (an orange-red paste made with ground annatto seeds), citrus juices and a variety of spices.

“When it’s done and you pull it out of the pit, the aroma from the banana leaves and the spices give it its real magic,” Casillas said. “But Yucatán is all about these recados, these combinations of spices, and this is one way to highlight them.”

Casillas is a native San Diegan and was first exposed to Mexican food by his grandmother. After training at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Las Vegas, he had stints at Jaleo, a José Andrés restaurant, and then at L’Atelier by Joël Robuchon. After eight years in Vegas, Casillas returned to San Diego to help open Valle in Oceanside with Roberto Alcocer. He then landed at Puesto for what he described as “an R&D opportunity to represent Mexico and do something cool and have fun every day making nice items. I enjoy the creative aspect of it.”

Casillas developed a riff on cochinita pibil for Puesto, along with a celebratory Pistachio Tres Leches cake, and shared his recipes and techniques here.

Casillas’s cochinita pibil taco is enveloped in a freshly made, warm blue corn tortilla. It’s rich from pork belly, piquant from the varied spices in the recado blanco (a spice blend), with just enough acid from the marinade and the traditional red onions. To that he adds a slice of creamy avocado, sprinkles of citrusy cilantro leaves, thin slices of serrano pepper and the satisfying crunch of chicharron pieces (get them freshly cooked at the counter of a market like Northgate and cut them into 1-inch pieces).

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Preparing cochinita pibil is a two-day project — one day to prepare the marinade and let the pork bathe in it overnight, and the next to cook the pork. There’s no whole pig or pit or even banana leaves involved: Casilla developed a recipe that even a home cook can follow.

The rest is straightforward. Make the recado blanco first so you can add it to the marinade. It’s filled with dried oregano, grilled garlic cloves, black peppercorns, cloves, cumin, cinnamon, coriander, salt, and orange and lime juices. Be sure to toast all of the spices to bring out the flavors before blending them.

“Making this at home is special because it’s the freshness of the spices,” Casillas explained. “It’s called ‘blanco’ or white instead of ‘rojo’ or red because of the coriander instead of the annatto seed.”

You only need 2 tablespoons for this recipe, but because it’s difficult to puree such a small amount in a blender, you’ll have plenty to use as a marinade for grilled chicken or fish or to put in a mole later (yes, you can freeze it).

Casillas pipes on passion fruit cream to top the Tres Leches Cake, (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

You will add the recado blanco to the rest of the marinade ingredients. But first, grill the tomatoes and onions. The idea is just to char both to pull out a smoky flavor. Seed and remove the stems of the guajillo chiles and grill them also to a deep brown.

Now blend all the marinade ingredients and marinate both the pork shoulder and belly overnight in the refrigerator. Meanwhile, prep the pickled onions and refrigerate, alongside the pork.

The next day, you’ll first quickly grill the meat just until it has grill marks, then roast it with some of the marinade in a pre-heated 350-degree oven for 4 hours. Refrigerate until cold and the fat has solidified. Remove the fat and reheat the meat in the braising liquid. Then pull the meat apart and assemble the tacos.

The Pistachio Tres Leches cake is about as traditional Mexican as you get, but Casillas wanted to zhuzh it up and came up with the idea of pairing the cake with pistachios — and a passion fruit cream.

“Tres leches is this jewel of Mexico,” he explained. “It’s a super wet cake with condensed milk, evaporated milk and regular milk. It’s traditional to have at birthday parties, but usually with a whipped cream frosting and some strawberries on top. It’s one of my favorite cakes.”

For his version, Casillas wanted to have some fun and make it more special — so he added a pistachio praline and nougatine. The praline starts out as a solid sweet before being chopped in a food processor into a paste. The nougatine, too, is baked on a sheet pan until solid and then chopped into small pieces in a food processor.

The cake is simple and light. Once it’s baked and cooled, you’ll slice off the edges with a serrated knife, cut into rectangular serving pieces and soak in the tres leches. The milks will initially bubble. Once they go away and the slices feel heavy, remove them and place on plates. Using a pastry bag, pipe the passion fruit cream in three ribbons lengthwise on each slice. Then pipe lines of praline paste to fill the two spaces between the cream. Casillas recommends using your right hand to press out the cream and praline paste, with your left hand’s index finger to guide. Finally, sprinkle toasted pistachio pieces and the crunchy nougatine on top.

Cochinita Pibil Taco wraps richly marinated pork in a fresh, warm blue corn tortilla. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Cochinita Pibil Taco

Makes 12 to 15 tacos

INGREDIENTS

For the marinated pork roast:

1 pound skinless pork belly, cut in half

2 pounds pork shoulder, cut in five 4-inch cubes

2 1/2 quarts cochinita marinade (recipe follows)

For the cochinita marinade: 

2 tablespoons recado blanco spice blend (see recipe below)

5 Roma tomatoes

1/2 red onion

7 cloves garlic, peeled

4 dried guajillo chiles, de-stemmed and seeded

2 1/2 teaspoons achiote

1 cup orange juice

1 cup lime juice

1 teaspoon Mexican oregano (whole)

1 tablespoon kosher salt

For the recado blanco:

1 teaspoon dried oregano

12 cloves peeled garlic, grilled on a scorching pan (not nonstick)

2 teaspoons whole black pepper

12 whole cloves

1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoons ground coriander

4 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup lime juice

For the pickled red onions:

3/4 cup lime juice

3/4 cup orange juice

1 habanero chile, de-stemmed

1 red onion, julienned

For the tacos:

Fifteen 5-inch blue corn tortillas, warmed

2 pounds cooked cochinita pibil roast

Pickled red onions

4 to 5 serrano chiles, sliced thin horizontally into wheels

1/4 pound chicharrónes, already cooked (available at Mexican markets like Northgate’s prepared food counter), cut into 1-inch pieces

Leaves from 1 bunch cilantro (discard stems)

2 avocados, peeled and sliced lengthwise

DIRECTIONS

1: It will take 2 days to prepare the cochinita pibil roast — one day to marinate and the next day to cook.

2: Make recado blanco to include in the marinade: Toast spices on a hot pan without oil separately, not together, for about a minute until fragrant and golden. Blend all ingredients in Vitamix or other blender until very fine, and a consistent paste is achieved.

3: Prepare the cochinita marinade the day before serving: Grill Roma tomatoes, red onions, and garlic until charred on the outside without caramelizing but still raw inside.

4: Toast guajillo chiles in the oven at 350 degrees for approximately 3 minutes until crispy, but not colored.

5: Once vegetables are grilled and spices and chiles are toasted, combine all ingredients in a blender bowl and blend on high until the marinade is smooth.

6: Marinate the pork overnight with all the marinade.

7: Prepare the pickled onions: Combine the juices and habanero in a blender bowl. Blend until smooth, and strain.

8: Cut tops and bottoms off from the onion. Peel and quarter the onion. Julienne onions lengthwise and thinly in a mandolin.

9: Place onion slices in a 2-quart container, cover with the habanero juice and refrigerate until ready to put together tacos.

10: The next day, pull and grill all the meat, until you have grill marks. Reserve the marinating liquid.

11: Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Place the grilled pieces into a roasting pan deep enough to hold the pork and some of reserved marinating liquid. Cover with aluminum foil and roast for 4 hours, until tender and it falls apart.

12: Once tender, allow to cool in refrigerator until cold and fat solidifies — 2 to 4 hours. Then remove the solid fat. Once removed, reheat the braised meat either on the stove or in a 350-degree oven for about 30 minutes. When ready to use, pull meat apart and keep it hot in the braising liquid.

13: Make taco: Place 2 ounces of the braised pork in a warmed tortilla, making sure it’s not too saucy.

14: Garnish with a pinch of pickled red onions atop the pork. Place three serrano slices over the red onions randomly. Then add 3 pieces of chicharrones along the taco. Garnish with three cilantro leaves and finish with a slice of avocado.

Pistachio Tres Leches Cake. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Pistachio Tres Leches Cake

Makes 12 servings

INGREDIENTS

For the cake:

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

4 large eggs

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into several pieces

For the praline paste:

2 1/2 cups unsalted shelled pistachios

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

For the pistachio nougatine:

2 1/4 cups unsalted shelled pistachios

1 3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons pectin (available online)

3/4 cup unsalted butter

3/4 cup corn syrup or syrup glucose

For the passion fruit cream:

2 cups chilled heavy whipping cream

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup chilled passion fruit puree

For the tres leches mixture:

1 cup whole milk

1 cup evaporated milk

1/4 cup condensed milk

For the garnish:

3/4 cup chopped shelled pistachios

DIRECTIONS

1: Adjust oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-by-12-inch pan with nonstick spray.

2: Place flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir with a whisk to combine. Set aside.

3: In a stand electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Beat at a medium-high speed until light in color and fluffy, for about 2 to 3 minutes.

4: Add milk and butter to a medium saucepan and melt butter on medium heat (do not boil). Beating on medium speed, add butter mixture to egg mixture. Then alternately fold in 1/3 of dry mixture and 1/3 of milk mixture. Repeat alternating and folding until all ingredients are added and folded in.

5: Place batter in prepared pan and smooth out surface. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Set on cooling rack and cool.

6: Prepare the praline: Spread out pistachios on a rimmed baking sheet lined with a sheet of Silpat and toast at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Place next to stove to cool. In a heavy-bottomed, large saucepan, heat sugar on medium-high heat until it melts and turns a nice caramel color (instead of stirring sugar, swirl the pan off heat from time to time until all the sugar is melted). Drizzle caramel over pistachios, sprinkle with salt, and set aside to cool. When cool, break into pieces and process in food processor until finely chopped into a paste. Place in a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip. Set aside.

7: Prepare the nougatine: Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Add pistachios to a food processor bowl and pulse to chop. Add pistachios to an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add pectin and powdered sugar and mix on low speed to combine.

8: Add butter and corn syrup to a medium saucepan on medium heat. Heat just until butter melts. Pour hot mixture into mixer with the other ingredients and blend on medium speed until well combined.

9: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spread mixture onto prepared rimmed baking sheet using a silicone spatula. (Alternately, you can roll it out between two sheets of parchment paper using a rolling pin.) Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool. Break into pieces and chop in a food processor. Set aside.

10: Make the passion fruit cream: Place a medium bowl in the refrigerator to chill. Once cold, combine the cream, sugar, and passion fruit puree in the bowl. Beat stand mixer until whipped into stiff peaks. Gently transfer to pastry bag with a small opening. Place in refrigerator.

11: In a medium-large bowl, stir together the tres leches ingredients. Invert cake to remove it from the pan. Using a serrated knife, shave off browned top and browned sides. Cut into serving size rectangles.

12: To plate, poke each serving of cake with the tines of a fork and then dip-soak in the tres leches mixture until cake absorbs liquid. Place on plates. Pipe passion fruit cream in three “logs” in a back-and-forth swirl on top of each piece of cake. Then pipe two rows of praline between the passion fruit “logs” (this will require some muscle). Sprinkle with chopped nougatine and a small amount of chopped pistachios. Serve.

Recipes from Raul Casillas.

By Lauren Sausser, KFF Health News

When Sally Nix found out that her health insurance company wouldn’t pay for an expensive, doctor-recommended treatment to ease her neurological pain, she prepared for battle.

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It took years, a chain of conflicting decisions, and a health insurer switch before she finally won approval. She started treatment in January and now channels time and energy into helping other patients fight denials.

“One of the things I tell people when they come to me is: ‘Don’t panic. This isn’t a final no,’” said Nix, 55, of Statesville, North Carolina.

To control costs, nearly all health insurers use a system called prior authorization, which requires patients or their providers to seek approval before they can get certain procedures, tests, and prescriptions.

Denials can be appealed, but nearly half of insured adults who received a prior authorization denial in the past two years reported the appeals process was either somewhat or very difficult, according to a July poll published by KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.

“It’s overwhelming by design,” because insurers know confusion and fatigue cause people to give up, Nix said. “That’s exactly what they want you to do.”

The good news is you don’t have to be an insurance expert to get results, she said. “You just need to know how to push back.”

Here are tips to consider when faced with a prior authorization denial:

1. Know your insurance plan.

Do you have insurance through your job? A plan purchased through healthcare.gov? Medicare? Medicare Advantage? Medicaid?

These distinctions can be confusing, but they matter a great deal. Different categories of health insurance are governed by different agencies and are therefore subject to different prior authorization rules.

For example, federal marketplace plans, as well as Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans, are regulated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Employer-sponsored plans are regulated by the Department of Labor. Medicaid plans, administered by state agencies, are subject to both state and federal rules.

Learn the language specific to your policy. Health insurance companies do not apply prior authorization requirements uniformly across all plans. Read your policy closely to make sure your insurer is following its own rules, as well as regulations set by the state and federal government.

2. Work with your provider to appeal.

Kathleen Lavanchy, who retired in 2024 from a job at an inpatient rehabilitation hospital in the Philadelphia area, spent much of her career communicating with health insurance companies on behalf of patients.

Before you contact your health insurer, call your provider, Lavanchy said, and ask to speak to a medical care manager or someone in the office who handles prior authorization appeals.

The good news is that your doctor’s office may already be working on an appeal.

Medical staffers can act as “your voice,” Nix said. “They know all the language.”

You or your provider can request a “peer-to-peer” review during the appeals process, which allows your doctor to discuss your case over the phone with a medical professional who works for the insurance company.

3. Be organized.

Many hospitals and doctors use a system called MyChart to organize medical records, test results, and communications so that they are easily accessible. Similarly, patients should keep track of all materials related to an insurance appeal — records of phone calls, emails, snail mail, and in-app messages.

Everything should be organized, either digitally or on paper, so that it can be easily referenced, Nix said. At one point, she said, her own records proved that her insurance company had given conflicting information. The records were “the thing that saved me,” she said.

“Keep an amazing paper trail,” she said. “Every call, every letter, every name.”

Linda Jorgensen, executive director of the Special Needs Resource Project, a nonprofit offering online resources for patients with disabilities and their families, has advised patients who are fighting a denial to specifically keep paper copies of everything.

“If it isn’t on paper, it didn’t happen,” she said.

Jorgensen, who serves as a caregiver to an adult daughter with special needs, created a free form you can print to help guide you when taking notes during phone calls with your insurance company. She advised asking the insurance representative for a “ticket number” and their name before proceeding with the conversation.

4. Appeal as soon as possible.

The silver lining is that most denials, if appealed, are overturned.

Medicare Advantage data published by KFF in January found that nearly 82% of prior authorization denials from 2019 through 2023 were partially or fully overturned upon appeal.

But the clock is ticking. Most health plans give you only six months to appeal the decision, according to rules laid out in the Affordable Care Act.

“Don’t dillydally,” Jorgensen advised, especially if you’re sending a paper appeal, or any supporting documents, through the U.S. Postal Service. She recommends filing quickly, and at least four weeks before the deadline.

For the sake of speed, some people are turning to artificial intelligence for help crafting customizable appeal letters.

5. Ask your HR department for help.

If you get your health insurance through an employer, there’s a good chance your health plan is “self-funded” or “self-insured.” That means your employer contracts with a health insurance company to administer benefits, but your employer shoulders the cost of your care.

Why does that matter? Under self-funded plans, decisions about what is or isn’t covered ultimately rest with your employer.

Let’s say, for example, your doctor has recommended that you undergo surgery, and your insurer has denied prior authorization for it, deeming the procedure “not medically necessary,” a phrase commonly used. If your plan is self-funded, you can appeal to the human resources department at your job, because your employer is on the hook for your health care costs — not the insurer.

Of course, there’s no guarantee your employer will agree to pay. But, at the very least, it’s worth reaching out for help.

6. Find an advocate.

Many states operate free consumer assistance programs, available by phone or email, which can help you file an appeal. They can explain your benefits and may intervene if your insurance company isn’t complying with requirements.

Beyond that, some nonprofit advocacy groups, such as the Patient Advocate Foundation, might help. On the foundation’s website is guidance about what to include in an appeal letter. For those battling severe disease, foundation staffers can work with you one-on-one to fight a denial.

7. Make noise.

We’ve written about this before. Sometimes, when patients and doctors shame insurers online, denials get overturned.

The same holds when patients contact lawmakers. State laws regulate some categories of health insurance, and when it comes to setting policy, state lawmakers have the power to hold insurance companies accountable.

Reaching out to your legislator isn’t guaranteed to work, but it might be worth a shot.

©2025 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By AMANDA SEITZ, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fired Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Susan Monarez will tell senators that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pressured her to endorse new vaccine recommendations before seeing scientific evidence, according to a copy of the testimony she plans to give during a Wednesday hearing.

According to a copy of the prepared remarks, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, Monarez will tell senators that Kennedy gave her an ultimatum: “Preapprove” new vaccine recommendations from a controversial advisory CDC panel that Kennedy has stocked with some medical experts who doubt vaccine safety or be fired. That panel is expected to vote on new vaccine recommendations later this week.

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Monarez, initially handpicked by Kennedy and nominated by President Donald Trump, was fired just weeks into the job over disagreements on vaccine policies. She is set to appear before the Senate’s powerful health committee to discuss her firing.

“Even under pressure, I could not replace evidence with ideology or compromise my integrity,” Monarez will say in her opening testimony to senators. “Vaccine policy must be guided by credible data, not predetermined outcomes.”

She said she was “fired for holding the line on scientific integrity.”

Monarez also notes that Kennedy directed her to fire a number of high-ranking CDC officials without cause.

The Senate hearing will focus on the impact the turmoil at the nation’s leading public health agency, which is responsible for making vaccine recommendations to the public, will have on children’s health. It will also undoubtedly serve as an opportunity for Monarez and former Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry, who will also testify before the committee, to respond to a number of Kennedy’s contentious claims about their final days at the agency.

Kennedy has denied Monarez’ accusations that he ordered “rubber-stamped” vaccine recommendations.

He has described Monarez as admitting to him that she is “untrustworthy,” a claim Monarez has denied through her attorney. He did, however, acknowledge during a testy Senate hearing earlier this month that he ordered Monarez to fire several top officials at the CDC.

The Senate hearing is taking place just a day before the vaccine panel starts its two-day session in Atlanta to discuss shots against COVID-19, hepatitis B and chickenpox. It’s unclear how the panel might vote on the recommendations, though members have raised doubts about whether hepatitis B shots administered to newborns are necessary and have suggested that COVID-19 recommendations should be more restricted.

The CDC director must endorse those recommendations before they become official. Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill, now serving as the CDC’s acting director, will be responsible for that.

Monarez and Houry are expected to face tense questions from Republicans over the CDC’s vaccine recommendations and COVID-19 policies. Democrats, meanwhile, are likely to seek more information on Kennedy’s approach to vaccines.

The health committee’s hearing will be overseen by Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician who cast a key vote for Kennedy’s confirmation. He has expressed concern about “serious allegations” at the CDC and has called for oversight, without blaming Kennedy.

Associated Press writers Mike Stobbe in New York and Lauran Neergaard in Washington contributed.