Republican doctors clash with RFK Jr over vaccines in tense Senate showdown

Senate Democrats found unlikely allies in Senate Republicans during a fiery hearing, where Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was grilled for his stance on vaccines.

Kennedy's testimony before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday was billed as a discussion on President Donald Trump's healthcare agenda, but it quickly turned into a tongue-lashing from lawmakers, who accused the secretary of lying to the panel about how he would operate the HHS and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

While a barrage of heated exchanges between Kennedy and Democrats were expected, it was heat from Senate Republicans on the panel, including a pair of doctors turned legislators, who stood out.

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"I support vaccines. I'm a doctor. Vaccines work," Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said. "Secretary Kennedy, in your confirmation hearings, you promised to uphold the highest standards for vaccines. Since then, I have grown deeply concerned."

"The public has seen measles outbreaks, leadership at the National Institutes of Health questioning the use of mRNA vaccines, the recently confirmed director of Center for Disease Control and Prevention fired," he continued. "Americans don't know who to rely on."  

When asked what he would do to ensure that vaccine guidance was clear, Kennedy said, "We're going to make it clear, evidence-based and trustworthy for the first time in history."

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The hearing came on the heels of a week of turmoil at the CDC, where Kennedy fired former CDC Director Susan Monarez, which led to several senior officials resigning from the agency. Before that, the secretary had cleaned out the federal government's vaccine recommendation panel and handpicked his own members to serve, and he also moved to cancel $500 million in mRNA vaccine contracts.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., also serves as the chair of the Senate's health committee and was the decisive vote to confirm Kennedy. He argued that Kennedy's actions on vaccines appeared to counter his support for Trump's Operation Warp Speed, a sweeping executive program by the Trump administration at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that jump-started the production of vaccines.

He noted that both Trump and Kennedy have vowed "radical transparency" when it came to the administration's healthcare agenda, but countered that the secretary's move to put new members on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices appeared to be a conflict of interest.

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"I am concerned though, because many of those that you have nominated for the [Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices] board… have received revenue as serving as expert witnesses as plaintiffs for attorneys suing vaccine makers," Cassidy said. "If we put people who are paid witnesses for people suing vaccines, that seems like a conflict of interest, real quickly do you agree with that?"

"No I don't," Kennedy said, arguing that while it may seem like a bias, it was not a conflict of interest.

Not every Republican doctor on the panel went after Kennedy. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., has long been an ally of the secretary's and gave him room to address accusations that he was anti-vaccine.

"Saying I'm anti-vaccine is like saying I'm anti-medicine," Kennedy said. "I'm pro-medicine, but I understand some medicines harm people, some of them have risks, some of them have benefits that outweigh those risks for certain populations, and that's true with vaccines."

Marshall agreed that he was not "anti-vax either," and he listed several vaccines that he believed were good but argued that it was the transparency and approach to vaccines under the HHS and CDC that he was after.

"What I feel the difference is sometimes my friends across the aisle feel like there's a one-size-fits-all, that they should be telling parents what to do," Marshall said. "And what you and I are fighting for is that we want to empower parents to make these decisions."