WASHINGTON ― Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was grilled by senators on both sides of the aisle at a tense hearing that was punctuated by loud shouting matches following last week’s chaos at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, a physician and the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said he has grown “deeply concerned” by RFK Jr.’s vaccine policies since voting to confirm him as the nation’s top health official earlier this year. His comments came as a surprise because of his stalwart support for President Donald Trump.
“I support vaccines. Vaccines save lives. If we’re going to make America healthy again, we can’t allow public health to be undermined,” Barrasso said at the hearing.
“There are real concerns that safe, proven vaccines like measles, like hepatitis B, could be in jeopardy. That could put Americans at risk and reverse decades of progress,” the conservative added.
Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee holding the hearing, said Kennedy “is dead set on making it harder for children to get vaccines and kids are going to die because of it.”
