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September 4, 2025<\/p>\n
3 min read<\/p>\n
Public Health Experts Slam RFK, Jr. after Senate Hearing<\/p>\n
On Thursday Senators grilled Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., about vaccines and turmoil at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health experts responded to Kennedy\u2019s claims on social media in disbelief and anger<\/p>\n
By Megha Satyanarayana edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier<\/span><\/p>\n Robert F. Kennedy Jr., US secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), during a Senate Finance Committee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. Kennedy Jr. tried to defend himself against senators from both parties who questioned his moves to restrict vaccine access.<\/p>\n Kayla Bartkowski\/Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n On Thursday a combative and acerbic Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, appeared before the Senate Committee on Finance and fielded angry questions from some of the very senators that helped him join President Donald Trump\u2019s cabinet. The senators\u2019 concerns included the firing of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s newly appointed director Susan Monarez and Kennedy\u2019s decisions to limit vaccine development and availability.<\/p>\n Kennedy often interrupted the questioning: He told Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, \u201cYou\u2019re wrong,\u201d when Cassidy said Kennedy was denying people COVID vaccines. And Kennedy told Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, \u201cYou\u2019re just making stuff up,\u201d after she questioned what evidence he and the Food and Drug Administration used to change COVID vaccine recommendations. Kennedy defended his decision to fire Monarez after only 29 days of service by claiming that she said \u201cno\u201d when asked if she was \u201ctrustworthy.\u201d In a piece in the Wall Street Journal, Monarez wrote that Kennedy had asked her to sign off on \u201cthe recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled with people who have publicly expressed antivaccine rhetoric.\u201d<\/p>\n The hearing had originally been scheduled for Kennedy to talk about the president\u2019s health agenda, but in light of a gunman firing on the CDC last month, the FDA\u2019s decision on COVID vaccines and Monarez\u2019s ouster, several senators used it to excoriate Kennedy for weakening the American public health system. Many public officials and health-related organizations have called for Kennedy\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n Throughout the hearing, public health experts, medical professionals and scientists responded on social media. A selection of such comments is below.<\/p>\n \u201cDr. Monarez was told days before she was fired that she could not decide vaccine policy. We spoke on the phone and she said \u2018I won\u2019t ever abandon you, but I am no longer able to be involved in vaccine policy per HHS. Those decisions need to go through the chief of staff.\u2019\u201d \u2014Demetre C. Daskalakis, former director, National Center on Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, CDC, writing on X<\/p>\n \u201cThom Tillis (R) really lays into RFK [Jr.]. Goes after him on everything from vaccines to the Big Beautiful Bill, gently pointing out that he’s effectively, and repeatedly, lied. Wants a \u2018written statement\u2019 from RFK [Jr.] on his view of Warp Speed and RNA tech. RFK [Jr.] not getting overwhelming support from GOP.\u201d \u2014Pam Herd, Social Sciences University of Michigan, writing on Bluesky<\/p>\n \u201cKennedy continues to claim that vaccines aren\u2019t adequately tested.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is a liar. They are the most thoroughly tested intervention of all.\u201d \u2014Elizabeth Jacobs, epidemiologist, Defend Public Health, and professor emerita, University of Arizona, writing on Bluesky<\/p>\n \u201cStop thinking [Kennedy] will be truthful. He won\u2019t. He is a threat to public health & scientific progress. He\u2019s demonized innovation for:<\/p>\n \u201cFood safety<\/p>\n \u201cFood stability<\/p>\n \u201cFarming<\/p>\n \u201cInfectious diseases<\/p>\n \u201cCancer<\/p>\n \u201cGenetic disorders<\/p>\n \u201cDental health<\/p>\n \u201cPublic & population health<\/p>\n \u201cThe environment.\u201d \u2014Andrea Love, scientist, writing on Bluesky<\/p>\n \u201cUnbelievable<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018We are the sickest country in the world. That\u2019s why we have to fire people at the CDC. They did not do their job\u2019 – RFK Jr<\/p>\n \u201cCDC folks have been fired, fired at, and now being blamed for the country\u2019s health crisis by a anti-science quack.\u201d \u2014Madhu Pai, public health and tuberculosis expert, McGill University, writing on Bluesky<\/p>\n \u201cConfirming a man who is arguably the world\u2019s most extreme & dangerous anti-vaxx activist & conspiracy theorist was a massive failure\u2026..\u201d \u2014Gavin Yamey, global health expert, Duke University, writing on Bluesky<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very clear that RFK Jr. has been lying throughout his entire senate hearing that happened earlier today.\u201d \u2014Zachary Rubin, physician and science communicator, speaking on Instagram<\/p>\n \u201c[Kennedy said], \u2018We are the sickest country in the world. That\u2019s why we have to fire people at the CDC!\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWrong. We are not the \u2018sickest country in the world.\u2019 Not even close, by any measure.<\/p>\n \u201cHe fired people at CDC because they would not agree to carry out his plan to end vaccines in America.\u201d \u2014Angela Rasmussen, infectious disease expert, University of Saskatchewan, writing on X<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. 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