Posted on 09/04/2025 2:05:22 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced senators Thursday as criticism mounts over the CDC director’s firing and COVID vaccine access cuts.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert K. Kennedy Jr appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday amid calls for his resignation and defended his stance on vaccines and his decisions to fire personnel in his department.
Kennedy has faced criticism, both from within HHS as well as the medical community, for the firing of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez and for reducing access to COVID-19 vaccines.
He told lawmakers that he is “pro-medicine, not anti-vaccine.” Kennedy said he is restoring trust in the CDC, while opponents argued he’s sowing doubt in established vaccine schedules.
In an op-ed published Thursday morning in the Wall Street Journal, Monarez claimed that Kenned told her to "preapprove the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled with people who have publicly expressed antivaccine rhetoric."
During his testimony on Thursday, Kennedy called Monarez a liar.
"I did not say that to her," Kennedy said.
Kennedy did admit to asking her to fire multiple career CDC officials. Earlier this year, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the previous committee. Kennedy's announced replacements were criticized for lacking expertise on vaccines and public health.
Following Kennedy's testimony, Monarez's lawyers issued the following statement: "Secretary Kennedy's claims are false, and at times, patently ridiculous. Dr. Monarez stands by what she said in her op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, would repeat it all under oath and continues to support the vision she outlined at her confirmation hearing that science will control her decisions."
Earlier this week, nine former heads of the CDC wrote an op-ed in the New York Times calling Kennedy's views on public health "dangerous." That was followed by a letter...
(Excerpt) Read more at scrippsnews.com ...
Calling the va☠️☠️ine a vaccine is a lie.
Any health official who says men can be women cannot be trusted to put air in my car, much less make medical decisions for millions of Americans.
The CDC is full of these hacks. The CDC needs an enema, and RFK Jr is giving them one.
“He told lawmakers that he is “pro-medicine, not anti-vaccine.””
He has a long history of being anti-vaccine.
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