Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. was confronted over his firing of vaccine advisory committee members and accused of lying at a brutal hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
The known vaccine skeptic appeared before a House subcommittee to testify on the president’s health budget, but he was taken to task by multiple House Democrats, including Rep. Kim Schrier, a former pediatrician.
It came after Kennedy abruptly fired all 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices this month.
Kennedy replaced them with eight new members, including vaccine skeptics, and the panel is set to meet for the first time on Wednesday.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Schrier brought up Kennedy’s confirmation and noted Republican Senator Bill Cassidy said at the time he would be supporting Kennedy only after receiving Kennedy’s commitment to maintain the C.D.C. vaccine advisory panel without changes.
“Did you lie to Senator Cassidy when you told him you would not change this panel of experts?” Schrier asked Kennedy.
“I never made that agreement,” Kennedy responded.
When asked if Kennedy was saying Cassidy was the one who lied, Kennedy claimed he never saw his statement, but if the senator said he agreed to keep the panel without change, that would be “inaccurate.”
Schrier told the secretary then that most of those on the committee believe the senator more than they trust Kennedy on the subject of vaccinations.
“It sounds to me like you gave to him the answer that he needed to hear in order to get his confirmation vote and then as soon as you were secretary, you turned around and did whatever you want,” the congresswoman accused Kennedy.
“You’re now on the record, you lied to Senator Cassidy. You have lied to the American people. You have lied to parents about vaccines for 20 years, and I also want to be clear that I will lay all responsibility for every death from a vaccine-preventable illness at your feet,” the rep. told him.
On February 4, Cassidy, a doctor who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, delivered a speech on the Senate floor explaining his vote after agreeing to support Kennedy’s close confirmation.
“He has also committed that he would work within the current vaccine approval and safety monitoring systems, and not establish parallel systems. If confirmed, he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without changes,” Cassidy said of Kennedy at the time.
This week, Cassidy publicly broke with Kennedy for the first time when he called for the vaccine advisory panel to delay its first meeting.
Cassidy wrote that many of Kennedy’s new appointees to the panel “do not have significant experience studying microbiology, epidemiology or immunology.”
“In particular, some lack experience studying new technologies such as mRNA vaccines, and may even have a preconceived bias against them,” Cassidy posted on X.
“Robust and transparent scientific discussion is important, so long as it is rooted in evidence and understanding. Wednesday’s meeting should not proceed with a relatively small panel, and no CDC Director in place to approve the panel’s recommendations,” Cassidy continued.
The senator called for the meeting to be delayed until the panel is fully staffed with balanced representation, and those with “direct relevant expertise” or the recommendations could be viewed with skepticism.
