Kennedy’s contentious nomination hearings hinge on vaccine, abortion policy

Robert Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), faced criticism from Democrats and some Republicans for his shifting positions on vaccines and other health issues in back-to-back Senate hearings this week.

Kennedy, who during the hearings claimed he is not anti-vaccine, said he only wants to follow the best science and refuted several statements attributed to him by Democrats.

Kennedy faced more than 6 hours of combined questioning before the Senate Finance Committee and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, as lawmakers consider his nomination to head HHS. The former independent presidential candidate, who has been labeled an anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist by some, was criticized by Democrats on both committees, while generally being defended by Republican lawmakers.

“In my advocacy, I have often disturbed the status quo by asking uncomfortable questions,” said Kennedy in his opening remarks to the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday. “Well, I'm not going to apologize for that.”

“We have massive health problems in this country that we must face honestly,” he added. “Should I be so privileged as to be confirmed, we'll make sure our tax dollars support healthy foods, we will scrutinize the chemical additives in our food supply, we will remove financial conflicts of interests from our agencies, we will create an honest, unbiased, gold-standard science at HHS accountable to the president, to Congress, and to the American people. We will reverse the chronic disease epidemic and put the nation back on the road to good health.”

Vaccines

Democratic lawmakers, however, remained unconvinced and took issue with several of Kennedy’s actions, such as his petition to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2021 to rescind the emergency use authorization (EUA) for COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy said the petition was filed after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that the vaccine be administered to children as young as six, which he believed to be inappropriate as children are at less risk from the disease.

“What is so disturbing to me is that out of 330 million Americans, we're being asked to put somebody in this job who has spent 50 years of his life … peddling in half-truths, peddling in false statements, peddling in theories that create doubt about whether or not things that we know are safe are unsafe,” said Sen. Michael Bennett (D-CO).

Kennedy was also questioned about his involvement in the 2019 Samoa measles outbreak that resulted in some 83 deaths, primarily in children. Public health officials have said that Kennedy's visit to the island after the outbreak gave credibility to anti-vaccine activists, exacerbating the situation. Kennedy, however, denied any involvement.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) noted that Kennedy has made $2.5M from the law firm Wizner Baum for encouraging people to join lawsuits against vaccine makers and that he will earn another 10% if they win. She asked Kennedy to pledge not to receive any compensation from such lawsuits against drugmakers as HHS secretary, and four years after his term. Kennedy declined, arguing it would hamper future litigations against drugmakers. In response, Warren warned her colleagues that Kennedy could use his position as HHS secretary to take actions that he could later use to sue vaccine makers.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), chair of the HELP Committee and a physician who specializes in liver disease, took issue with Kennedy’s past statements about vaccines potentially causing autism. He also said the Hepatitis B vaccine has reduced acute cases by almost 90% and saves lives. He noted that there are decades of data to show that the Hep B and measles vaccines do not cause autism and asked whether Kennedy would reassure mothers "unequivocally and without qualifications" that the vaccines don't cause autism.

“Bobby, I know you have a tremendous following ... and there are many that trust you, more than they trust their own physician,” said Cassidy. “The question I need to have answered, is what will you do with that trust ... Your past undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me.”

“If the data is there, I will absolutely do that,” responded Kennedy. “If you show me data, I will be the first person to assure the American people that they need to take those vaccines.”

“As much as I've criticized industries and agencies, President Trump and I know that most of the scientists and experts genuinely care about American health,” said Kennedy. “News reports and many at the hearing yesterday have claimed that I'm anti-vaccine and anti-industry, well I'm neither. I'm pro-safety. I'm pro-good science.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a member of the HELP Committee and an ophthalmologist, defended some of Kennedy's vaccine positions. He claimed that Hepatitis B is acquired through drug use and sexually transmitted diseases, and it doesn't make sense to vaccinate newborns against the disease. Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and CDC recommend that newborns be vaccinated for Hepatitis B within 24 hours of birth.

"Does it make me an anti-vaxxer because I questioned that government dictated whether I do it? For goodness sake, let's have an honest debate about these things," said Kennedy.

Paul also backed up Kennedy's petition to pull the COVID-19 EUA, arguing that children didn't need the vaccine since the risk for the disease was greater for older people and claimed that no healthy child died from the disease.

COVID-19, Lyme disease, and more

During the Finance Committee meeting, Bennett asked Kennedy whether he had previously claimed that COVID-19 was genetically engineered and targeted black and white people while sparing Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people. Kennedy said he didn't say it was deliberately targeting black and white people and said he quoted a National Instittutes of Health (NIH)-funded and published study but did not provide details on which study he was referring to.

Bennett also pressed Kennedy on whether he previously claimed Lyme disease was likely a materially engineered bioweapon, to which Kennedy said he “probably did” say that.

“I am not going to go into HHS and impose my preordained opinions on anybody at HHS,” said Kennedy. “I'm going to empower the scientists at HHS to do their jobs and make sure that we have good science that's evidence-based, that's replicable, where the raw data is published.”

Kennedy also promised that he would not make the FDA deprioritize or delay the review of new vaccines and that the agency’s vaccine review standards would not change from historical norms.

“I support the measles vaccine, I support the polio vaccine, I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking any of those vaccines,” he said.

Sen. Tom Tillis (R-NC) asked Kennedy directly if he was a conspiracy theorist. “That is a pejorative, senator, that has been applied to me, mainly to keep me from asking difficult questions of powerful interests,” said Kennedy.

Kennedy said that he'd been called a conspiracy theorist for saying the COVID-19 vaccine didn't prevent transmission and wouldn't prevent infection, for saying red dye causes cancer, and for saying fluoride lowered IQ. However, he argued that more recently, experts have acknowledged his COVID-19 position, FDA has proposed to ban the use of Red Dye No. 3 in food and ingestible drugs, and a recent meta-analysis published in JAMA Pediatrics found an inverse association between IQ and fluoride.

“I'm not a scientist. I want to empower scientists,” said Kennedy. “I want to make sure science is unobstructed by vested or economic interests.”

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) was not persuaded. He noted that Kennedy’s election campaign had sent an email on Monday that celebrated a freeze on all new regulations, guidances and announcements as a way to prevent unelected bureaucrats from further undermining America’s healthcare.

“You've said you'd want to get rid of 600 NIH workers on day one,” said Warner. “In our meeting you said you'd actually like to get rid of 2,200 people from HHS. Which offices are you going to start cutting?”

Kennedy said he wanted to replace HHS political appointees, which is common after a new administration takes power, and pledged not to fire anyone that he deemed was doing their job based on his opinion.

Several senators questioned Kennedy on what he plans to do about the abortion drug mifepristone. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) noted that the Biden administration relaxed prescribing rules the drug and falsely claimed that FDA stopped requiring adverse event reports for the drug unless a patient died. In March 2016, during the Obama administration, FDA revised its adverse events reporting requirements under the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) to limit required adverse event reporting by healthcare providers to cases that involve a death. This change did not affect required adverse event reporting by the manufacturer, nor does it affect voluntary reporting to the agency.

“It's against everything that we believe in this country that patients and doctors should not be reporting adverse events,” said Kennedy. “We need to know what the adverse events are... Trump has made it clear to me that he wants me to look at the safety issues. I'll ask NIH and FDA to do that.”

Diversity, equity, and inclusion

Since taking office, President Trump has issued executive orders to upend the Biden Administration’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. Notably, FDA has removed several guidances related to diversity and gender and taken down parts of its website related to clinical trial diversity.

Sen. Ben Lujan (D-NM) asked Kennedy what he plans to do about the guidances, some of which were congressionally mandated under the 2022 Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act (FDORA).

"When folks are doing research and they're going to check to see if the medicine works on someone, if they're not included in that trial, it often doesn't help them,” said Lujan. “That's what all the evidence shows. What are you going to do when programs are eliminated to require the inclusion of Native Americans in clinical trials when it comes to life-saving medicine."

Kennedy said he would do everything he could to ensure that Native Americans are included in clinical trials and was committed to finalizing the congressionally mandated FDA guidances on clinical trial diversity. He also said he would work with lawmakers to ensure that positions that oversee such trial diversity work at FDA are adequately staffed.

Transparency and federal staffing

Sen. Chuck Grassley, (R-IA) said he faced difficulty getting information from HHS during the Biden administration and that he expects Kennedy to provide that information if he is confirmed.

“My approach to HHS administration will be radical transparency,” said Kennedy. “If members of this committee or if other members of Congress want information, the doors are open.”

“I've spent many years litigating against HHS and its sub-agencies, NIH, CDC, FDA, on FOIA issues, trying to get information that we the taxpayers paid for and often times getting back redacted copies a year or two years after litigation,” he added. “That should not be the case and if Congress asks me for information, you will get it immediately.”

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) raised concerns about the Trump administration’s offer to buyout federal workers if they pledge to resign by September. He argued that people who accept the offer to resign are likely the ones the government needs the most because they readily have other options and are typically in their position out of a sense of patriotism.

“I agree the vast majority of scientists and experts at the CDC are patriots in government service,” said Kennedy. “I don't think anybody is going to resign who is committed to making America healthy again.”

Republican support

Republican lawmakers defended Kennedy during the hearing and praised his desire to bring a new way of thinking to HHS. They praised him for taking a science-based approach and for wanting to improve Americans' health.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) said he found his engagements with Kennedy very thoughtful and science-based.

“I realize this will be a very partisan vote on this committee and on the Senate floor but let the record state that there are three medical doctors on this side of the dais, I'm a chemical engineer, we believe in science and are thankful you do too,” said Daines.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said that he and the American people want to know what causes autism and chronic illnesses, which are key issues that Kennedy has championed.

“I can't say I'm surprised by the hostility on the other side, but I'm highly disappointed in it,” said Johnson. “I think I know what's in your heart. I think I know the personal and political price you paid for this decision. I want to thank you for that.”

“I have no doubt that you will be confirmed, and you are going to do such a solid job for the people of this country,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).

Kennedy’s contentious nomination hearings hinge on vaccine, abortion policy

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