US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy on Thursday defended his decision to fire a top government scientist, insisting the move was “absolutely necessary,” even as Democrats demanded his resignation over sweeping steps to curb vaccines.
The heated Senate hearing, marked by shouting matches and partisan clashes, followed the ouster of Sue Monarez, the now-former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Her dismissal — alongside several high-level resignations and hundreds of earlier layoffs — has plunged the nation’s premier public health agency into turmoil.
Kennedy, once a respected environmental lawyer but long known for his anti-vaccine activism, accused the CDC of “miserably failing” during the Covid pandemic. He blasted the agency’s guidance on masks, social distancing, and school closures as “disastrous and nonsensical.”
“We need bold, competent and creative new leadership at CDC, people able and willing to chart a new course,” Kennedy said in his opening statement.
Monarez, who Kennedy had previously endorsed before abruptly firing, struck back in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, accusing him of deliberately undermining America’s public-health system and vaccine protections. Kennedy explained his decision bluntly when pressed by Senator Elizabeth Warren: “I asked her, ‘Are you a trustworthy person?’ And she said, ‘No.’”
Since taking office under President Donald Trump’s second administration, Kennedy has moved to restrict Covid-19 shots to narrower groups, slash federal research grants for mRNA technology, and redirect funding toward fringe claims about vaccines.
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Democrats accused him of endangering lives. Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, demanded Kennedy be placed under oath, alleging he lied in prior testimony about protecting vaccine access. “It is in the country’s best interest that Robert Kennedy step down, and if he doesn’t, Donald Trump should fire him before more people are hurt,” Wyden said.
Republicans largely rallied around Kennedy, with committee chairman Senator Mike Crapo praising his focus on chronic disease. But dissent surfaced from within his own party. Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician whose vote was crucial to Kennedy’s confirmation, criticized his cancellation of mRNA research grants — a stance echoed by Republican Senators John Barrasso and Thom Tillis.
The sharp exchanges underscored the deep divide over Kennedy’s controversial role, with the future of US vaccine policy now hanging in the balance.