RFK Jr. faces heated questions on CDC turmoil, vaccine changes at Senate hearing

Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, a Republican and a physician, said he was “deeply concerned” about how Kennedy and the CDC’s vaccine panel are approaching recommendations.

“Secretary Kennedy, in your confirmation hearing, you promised to uphold the highest standards for vaccines. Since then, I’ve grown deeply concerned,” Barrasso said. “The public has seen measles outbreaks, leadership at the National Institute of Health questioning the use of mRNA vaccines, the recently confirmed director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fired. Americans don’t know who to rely on.”

Barrasso cited polling showing that a large majority of voters, including Trump voters, believe vaccine recommendations should come from “trained physicians, scientists, public health experts.” He asked what steps Kennedy would take to “ensure vaccine guidance is clear, evidence-based and trustworthy.”

Kennedy said he would “make it clear, evidence-based and trustworthy for the first time in history.” Under his leadership, he said, the agency is going back to perform observational studies on existing vaccines, while new vaccines will have to demonstrate safety. He said the efforts intend to allow people to “understand the risk profile of those products and make good assessments for their own health.” 

Asked by Barrasso about safeguards for science-based vaccine recommendations at the upcoming panel meeting, Kennedy said, “Americans have lost faith in CDC, and we need to restore that faith. And we’re going to do that by telling the truth and not through propaganda.”

“We’re going to tell them what we know, we’re going to tell them what we don’t know, and we’re going to tell them what we’re researching and how we’re doing it and we’re going to be transparent,” Kennedy said. “It’s the only way to restore trust in the agency, by making it trustworthy.”

In June, Kennedy ousted all 17 members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, or ACIP, and replaced them with hand-picked officials. The newly constituted panel is set to meet on Sept. 18 and 19 to consider updated vaccine recommendations.