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At a Sept. 4, 2025, hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced heated questions from numerous senators about his vaccine policies, including his stance on COVID-19 vaccines and mRNA vaccine technology generally.
Although Kennedy agreed that Operation Warp Speed, President Donald Trump’s signature initiative to produce COVID-19 vaccines in nine months, was a tremendous achievement, he also maintained that COVID-19 vaccines cause widespread and serious harm, including death, particularly in young people – a claim for which there is no evidence.
Some especially pointed questions came from Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician who provided the final vote needed for Kennedy’s confirmation in February 2025 after Kennedy promised him that he would not change the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s process for recommending vaccines. Cassidy pointed out that with the limitations and confusion caused by the CDC’s new rules around COVID-19 vaccines, “I would say effectively we are denying people vaccines.” To which Kennedy replied, “Well, you’re wrong.”
At the hearing, Kennedy stood by his decision to cut US$500 million...
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