While HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s appearance before the Senate Finance Committee Thursday was expected to generate fireworks from Democrats on the panel — and it did — three Repubican senators also took the secretary to task for his job so far.
The criticisms leveled by Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.), John Barrasso (Wyom.), and Thom Tillis (N.C.) are significant in that it shows there is frustration growing with RFK Jr. from GOP lawmakers. Barrasso is the second-highest-ranking Republican in the Senate.
Cassidy, by profession a medical doctor, had previously expressed some concern with RFK Jr. during his confirmation, though he ultimately voted for him.
During the hearing, RFK Jr. said he agreed with Cassidy that President Trump should be nominated for the Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed, the public-private partnership that led to the development of COVID-19 vaccinations during Trump’s first term. But Cassidy said he was perplexed that the secretary supports this given that as an attorney for anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, he wanted to restrict access to COVID shots.
Cassidy also criticized the secretary for cutting $500M of funding toward the development of new mRNA vaccines. The Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)/BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) COVID vaccines were created with the technology.
“It also seems like a commentary on what the president did during Operation Warp Speed which is to create a platform by which to create vaccines. So this just seems inconsistent that you agree that the president deserves a tremendous amount of credit for this.”
Cassidy also took aim at RFK Jr.’s replacing all members of CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which the secretary did in June due to what he considered prior members’ conflicts of interest. Cassidy said 6.9% of members had conflicts of interest, instead of the 97% alleged by RFK Jr. The senator added that some of the new members of that panel have served as expert witnesses in trials brought against vaccine manufacturers, which would appear to be a conflict of interest.
RFK Jr. responded by saying bias on that committee is OK “if that bias is disclosed.”
Barrasso used his time to excoriate RFK Jr. on the mRNA vaccine research cuts, his handling of the measles outbreak in Texas and other southwestern states, as well as the ongoing turmoil at the CDC.
“In your confirmation hearings, you promised to uphold the highest standards for vaccines,” the senator said. “Since then, I’ve grown deeply concerned.”
Addressing the controversy over the firing of former CDC Director Susan Monarez, Tillis noted how the administration promoted her during her confirmation hearing only to have her dismissed a month into her tenure.
“I don’t see how you go over four weeks from a public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials, a longtime champion of MAHA values, caring and compassionate and brilliant microbiologist and four weeks later fire her.”
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