Robert F Kennedy Jr’s combative Senate confirmation hearing for health secretary erupted into fierce exchanges on Wednesday morning, as Democrats confronted one of the US’s most prominent vaccine skeptics, who will possibly be handed the reins of America’s public health system.
The Senate finance committee ranking member, Ron Wyden, challenged the 71-year-old Kennedy over seemingly contradictory statements, reading quotes from podcasts in which Kennedy had claimed “no vaccine is safe and effective” while testifying under oath that he supports vaccines. He read another quote from 2020 how Kennedy claimed he regretted vaccinating his children.
“All of these things cannot be true,” Wyden said. “So are you lying to Congress today when you say you are pro-vaccine, or did you lie on all those podcasts?”
Kennedy disputed Wyden’s characterization, claiming his podcast comment was taken out of context. “[The host] asked me, ‘Are there vaccines that are safe and effective?’ And I said … there are no vaccines that are safe and effective for every person,” Kennedy responded.
“I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine. I will do nothing, as HHS secretary, to make it difficult or discourage people from taking it,” Kennedy said.
The Colorado senator Michael Bennet accused Kennedy of “peddling half-truths” throughout his career, demanding yes or no answers about past controversial statements. When asked if he had called Lyme disease a “highly likely” military bioweapon, Kennedy said, “I probably did say that”, although he disputed other claims.
Bennet said: “Out of 330 million Americans, we’re being asked to put somebody in this job who has spent 50 years of his life … peddling theories that create doubt about whether things we know are safe are unsafe.”
Under tough questioning from the senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican and physician, Kennedy appeared to confuse Medicare and Medicaid, the government health programs for seniors and low-income people respectively.
“Medicaid is not working for Americans and is not working for the target population,” said Kennedy. “Most people on Medicaid are not happy, the premiums are too high, the deductibles are too high, the networks are too narrow,” he said.
Medicare, run by the federal government, has premiums and deductibles. Most Medicaid plans, run jointly by the state and federal governments, do not have premiums and deductibles, though it is true that networks can be narrow.
Kennedy then said Medicaid could be reformed with “pilot programs” and perhaps telemedicine, AI and direct primary care – a doctor’s office business model that operates like a subscription model.
“Americans don’t, by and large, do not like the [Obamacare], they don’t like it, they don’t like Medicaid – and they like Medicare and they like private insurance,” said Kennedy. “They would prefer to be on private insurance. Most Americans, if they could afford it, would be on private insurance.”
As health and human services secretary, Kennedy would oversee everything from vaccine policy to food safety, wielding enormous influence over public health decisions affecting millions of Americans. His controversial views – including debunked claims about vaccines and autism, fluoride safety and raw milk regulations – have put him at odds with mainstream medical consensus.
Kennedy told NPR in December that as a member of the administration, he was “not going to take vaccines away from anybody”, but he also added he wanted people to make “informed choices”.
In a letter to senators obtained by the Washington Post, Kennedy’s cousin Caroline branded him a “predator”, claiming he privately vaccinated his own children while publicly stoking vaccine hesitancy among worried parents. The accusation, from a former ambassador to Australia and Japan, lands as more than 15,000 medical professionals and 75 Nobel laureates have similarly mobilized against his confirmation.
Kennedy’s pledge to “make America healthy again” through stricter regulation of food additives has found a number of allies, even as Republican senators demand clarity on his stance toward abortion rights and vaccine policy.
The confirmation fight comes against a backdrop of shifting public attitudes: polling from Gallup over the summer showed nearly a third of Republicans now view vaccines as more dangerous than the diseases they prevent, a fivefold increase since 2001.
Despite the opposition, Kennedy will probably survive the hearings. The final voteis scheduled for next week.
