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Journalism of Courage
US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr (RFK Jr) was grilled by both Republican and Democratic Senators who questioned him on a wide range of topics, including Covid-19 vaccines, his anti-vaccine stance, and the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez.
RFK Jr was called by the Senate Finance Committee for a hearing about his plans to “Make America Healthy Again,” but the health secretary is being grilled over layoffs and planned budget cuts that detractors say are wrecking the nation’s ability to prevent disease.
In an exchange with Democratic Senator Mark Warner about how many Americans have died from Covid-19, Kennedy claimed nobody knows because of a lack of government data.
“I don’t think anybody knows that, because there was so much data chaos coming out of the CDC and there were so many perverse incentives,” he said.
Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan questioned RFK Jr about recent changes limiting access to Covid-19 shots for healthy children and adults, but the Health Secretary did not give a clear answer.
Last month, US regulators approved updated Covid-19 shots but limited their use for many Americans — and removed one of the two vaccines available for young children.
Maggie Hassan, the New Hampshire Democrat, asked RFK Jr about why he “acted behind closed doors to overrule scientists” on vaccine access.
RFK Jr responded by saying she’s ‘just making stuff up’ over and over, and decried Hassan’s questions as “crazy talk.”
Kennedy said drugmakers did not provide the FDA with studies showing their vaccines significantly benefited healthy children and adults. People can still get a shot with a prescription from their doctor, Kennedy added.
Known for his vaccine scepticism even before his appointment as the Health Secretary by Donald Trump, RFK also faced some tough questions from Republicans.
Senator Bill Cassidy, who is also a medical doctor, asked about Kennedy’s anti-vaccination stances. He also asked about members Kennedy has named to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunizations who’ve testified as expert witnesses in lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies that developed the Covid vaccine.
“I would say you seem more interested in settlements than science,” Cassidy said, ending his time with Kennedy by saying, “Effectively, you are denying people vaccines.”
During his exchange with Cassidy, Kennedy noted that Trump pushed development of the Covid-19 vaccine, but said he also “promoted therapeutics like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.” The unproven treatments soared in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic, largely among those sceptical of vaccines. Ivermectin is an anti-parasite drug.
John Barrasso, a Republican senator and surgeon, also grilled RFK Jr, saying he has “grown deeply concerned” that trust in vaccines could be in jeopardy under Kennedy’s leadership.
“If we’re going to make America healthy again, we can’t allow public health to be undermined,” he told Kennedy. “I’m a doctor. Vaccines work.”
Kennedy told Barrasso that Americans have lost faith in the CDC and pledged to make health recommendations “clear, evidence-based and trustworthy.”
Kennedy, who has admitted to flying on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane, was also asked about his thoughts on the victims of the now-disgraced financier, who appeared on the steps of the Capitol this week to call for greater transparency into his operation and suspicious death.
“I don’t know about any women on the steps,” Kennedy told Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell, who tied critiques of the health secretary’s decision-making to his ties to Epstein, and called Kennedy a “charlatan”.
Earlier in the hearing, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon criticised Kennedy for claiming he was “a protector of children” even though the secretary had said he had flown on Epstein’s plane “on multiple occasions.”
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