Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Senate Democrats spotted Senate Republican allies, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) at a hot hearing Robert Kennedy Jr. Grilled for his position on the vaccine.

Kennedy’s testimony before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday was called the president’s discussion Donald Trump’s The health care agenda, but quickly became the tongue of lawmakers, accusing the secretary of lying to the group to accuse him of running the HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

While there is a series of intense exchanges between Kennedy and the Democrats, Senate Republicans’ heat in the group, including a pair of doctor-turned-law lawmakers, stand out.

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“I support the vaccine. I am a doctor. The vaccine work,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrassor-wyo. explain. “Secretary Kennedy, you promised to uphold the highest standards of vaccines during your confirmation hearing. I have been deeply worried since then.”

“The public has seen the measles outbreak, the leadership of the National Institutes of Health questioned the use of mRNA vaccines, and the recently confirmed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was fired,” he continued. “The Americans don’t know who to rely on.”

When asked what he would do to ensure vaccine guidance was clear, Kennedy said: “For the first time in history, we will be clear, evidence-based and trustworthy.”

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr faces Senate panel after CDC turmoil

R-Wyo. Senator John Barrasso spoke to a reporter on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 24, 2025. (tasos katopodis)

The hearing followed a week of turmoil at the CDC, Kennedy fired former CDC director Susan Monarez, which led to several senior officials resigning from the agency. Prior to this, the secretary had cleaned up the federal government’s vaccine recommendation team and personally selected his own members to serve, and he also moved out a $500 million mRNA vaccine contract.

senator Bill CassidyR-La. Also chairman of the Senate Health Committee, it was confirmed that Kennedy was the decisive vote. He believes Kennedy’s actions on the vaccine appear to be contrary to his support for the speed of Trump’s distortion, a Trump administration’s sweeping executive plan at the beginning of the COVID-19-19 pandemic that jumped vaccine production.

He noted that both Trump and Kennedy both vowed “radical transparency” when it came to the administration’s health care agenda, but opposing the secretary’s move to include new members in the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice seems to be a conflict of interest.

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Roger Marshall, a Republican from Kansas, spoke at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on March 4, 2021. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“But I’m worried because many of you have nominated [Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices] The board of directors has received income as an expert witness as a plaintiff who sued the vaccine manufacturer. ”

“No, I’m not,” Kennedy said, and while it seems to be bias, it’s not a conflict of interest.

Not every Republican doctor in the group follows Kennedy. senator Roger MarshallR-Kan. He has long been an ally of the secretary and has given him leeway to resolve allegations that he is anti-vaccine.

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“Saying I’m anti-vaccine is like saying I’m resistant,” Kennedy said. “I’m pro-medical, but I understand that some drugs can harm people, some of them are at risk, some of them have more benefits than some of them, and that’s the same for vaccines.”

Marshall agrees that he is not “anti-vax” either, and he lists several vaccines he thinks are good, but thinks it is the transparency and approach of the vaccines under the HHS and CDC he pursues.

“I think sometimes sometimes my friends in the aisle feel like there’s a cookie-cutter and they should tell their parents what to do,” Marshall said. “And what you and I are fighting for is that we want to give parents these decisions.”