Robert F Kennedy Jr grilled in explosive hearing about vaccine policy, pitted against Donald Trump

Democrats and Republicans have pushed US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy’s Jr on his recent vaccine policies and their stark contrast to President Donald Trump’s successful first-term pandemic initiative to speed vaccine development during a combative three-hour Senate hearing.

Half a dozen heated exchanges focused on the details of his decision to fire Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez, who had started the job with Kennedy’s support only a month earlier.

Mr Kennedy said she was dishonest about the reason she was dismissed.

Republican US Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana praised Mr Trump for having accelerated the development, manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in 2020.

His line of questioning - mirrored by two other members of his and Mr Trump’s party - underscored the tightrope Republicans critical of Mr Kennedy needed to walk in order to push back against his vaccine policies without criticising the President.

Mr Cassidy, a former physician, asked Mr Kennedy during the Senate Finance Committee hearing if he agreed with him that Mr Trump deserved a Nobel Peace Prize for the COVID-19 vaccine initiative.

Mr Kennedy said he did.

Why then had Mr Kennedy said the vaccines killed more people than COVID-19, Mr Cassidy asked.

Mr Kennedy denied making the statement and in a later exchange acknowledged the shots prevented deaths but said he did not know how many, citing chaotic data from the administration of former US President Joe Biden.

A study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal indicated COVID-19 vaccines in the first year of their use saved 14.4 million lives globally.

Republicans Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Barrasso of Wyoming, who like Cassidy is a physician, adopted Cassidy’s tactic, as did Senate Democrats Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Raphael Warnock of Georgia, where the CDC is headquartered, and Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats.

“Secretary Kennedy, in your confirmation hearings you promised to uphold the highest standards for vaccines. Since then, I’ve grown deeply concerned,” Mr Barrasso said.

“The public has seen measles outbreaks, leadership in the National Institutes of Health questioning the use of mRNA vaccines, the recently confirmed Director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fired,” the Senator added.

Medical groups and several Democrats in Congress have called for Mr Kennedy to be fired and his exchanges with Democratic senators on the panel repeatedly devolved into shouting from both sides.

Under fiery questioning from Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon - the committee’s top-ranking Democrat - and some other senators, Mr Kennedy defended the ousting of Ms Monarez, adding that he might need to fire even more people at the agency.

Mr Kennedy also engaged in a heated and loud exchanges with senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tina Smith of Minnesota.

Mr Trump fired Ms Monarez after she resisted changes to vaccine policy advanced by Kennedy that she believed contradicted scientific evidence.

In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, Ms Monarez said she had been directed to pre-approve vaccine recommendations and fire career CDC officials, describing her ouster as part of a broader push to weaken US vaccine standards.

Mr Kennedy said he had never told Ms Monarez she needed to pre-approve decisions but that he did order her to fire officials, which she refused to do.

Mr Kennedy said the CDC during the COVID-19 pandemic had lied to the public, pointing to recommendations on mask wearing, vaccine boosters and social distancing and statements that the vaccine would prevent transmission.

“I need to fire some of those people and make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Mr Kennedy said.

By late 2021, as more real-world data on the vaccines accumulated, the CDC acknowledged the shots could not stop COVID-19 infection and transmission but said they were highly effective in preventing severe cases, hospitalisations and deaths.

US Vice President JD Vance was not pleased with the behaviour of some senators at Mr Kennedy’s hearing on Capitol Hill.

In a post on X, the Vice President accused senators of “trying to lecture” and catch Mr Kennedy in a “gotcha” moment.

with AP