Kennedy faces questions about vaccines and leadership of the Senate CDC

The Secretary of Health and Social Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is expected to testify on Capitol Hill on Thursday, a week after the disorders swallowed up the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The legislators of the senatorial finance committee, which has jurisdiction over the HHS, will hear the news of Kennedy on the health care agenda of President Donald Trump, nicknamed by the secretary as the Make America Healthy Again movement.

Although the Committee does not supervise the CDC directly, the recent dismissal of the former director of the CDC Susan Monarez, the wave of senior high -level civil servants and other measures at the agency taken under Kennedy’s mandate should dominate the line of questioning of the Republicans and the Democratic legislators of the Panel.

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The secretary of HHS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., heads for the first inaugural American farmer market on the National Mall on Monday, August 4, 2025. (Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, included via Getty Images)

The head of the majority of the Senate, John Thune, who is a member of the panel, told journalists that Kennedy would be confronted with “difficult questions” of committee members, in particular on the frustrations against Monarez, who was confirmed by the Senate less than a month before his evidence.

“He must assume responsibility … We confirm these people,” said the republican of southern Dakota. “We have a lot of work to confirm them. And they are in power a month?”

Speculations have turned on the reason for the dismissal of Monarez, given its different position on the vaccines compared to Kennedy, who spent a large part of his presidential campaign and his mandate as secretary going after the efficiency and security of vaccination, in particular those of COVID-19.

Senator Bill Cassidy, R-La., Who chairs the Senate health committee and was the decisive vote that propelled Kennedy to a role in the Trump administration, should also question the secretary.

Last week, he demanded that the Federal Government Vaccines Advisory Committee, which was filled with Kennedy component replacements after recently launched the members of the original panel, reported to his meeting scheduled for September until “significant surveillance” has been made so far and has charged that all the recommendations made by the Advisory Committee will be rejected until then.

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Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La), classification member of the Senatorial Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, participates in an audience on prescription medication costs in the Dirksen Senate Building Builder on February 8, 2024 in Washington, DC (Images Kevin Dietsch / Getty)

Cassidy told Fox News Digital that he was working on what the surveillance measures would look like and expected to announce his plans soon. In the meantime, he noted that he supported Kennedy and Trump’s commitment to “radical transparency”, but noted that his main concerns concerned the health of children.

“This is not a question of R against D. This is not a question, you know, intestine fights within the Republican Party. These are children and grandchildren, and they will die or will be at risk of dying of a vaccine preventable disease,” said Cassidy. “Now we have to achieve the truth of this.”

He also argued that the members of the advisory committee for immunization practices are supposed to receive equipment to be examined before making recommendations and vaccination decisions, but wondered where the information would come from following several CDC higher members who led after the dismissal of Monarez.

“We must have a kind of radical transparency in the scientific justification that is used for this,” he said. “Is it a policy named politics? Well, to say that a policy of politics makes scientific recommendations. Who is a policy of politics? I mean, are they a doctor, a doctorate, or are they a politics? Our concern is that they could simply be political names, but we will discover it.”

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President Donald Trump in the White House Oval Office in Washington, DC, Thursday, August 14, 2025. (Will Oliver / EPA / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Senator Steve Daines, R-Mont., Another member of the Senate Finance Committee, told Fox News Digital that his questioning line would focus on abortion drugs, mifepristone and his security, but added that he was “fair” for legislators to struggle on the leaders of Kennedy of the CDC and HHS.

“He is typical of any secretary who appears, but I am sure that many of these questions that have been raised are linked to certain concerns. These questions will be asked, and I am grateful that the secretary is there to explain what he sees in progress and the way to follow,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kennedy defended his movements to the CDC in a Wall Street Journal The opinion is on Tuesday and argued that “President Trump asked me to restore this confidence and bring the CDC back to his main mission”.

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He wrote that measures have already been taken to “eliminate conflicts of interest and bureaucratic complacency” at the agency, and that the leaders who “resist the reform” had already been replaced.

“Most basic CDC employees are honest officials,” said Kennedy. “Under this renewed mission, they can do their job as scientists without losing politics. The agency will once again become the global authority on the policy of infectious diseases.”

“First, the CDC must restore public confidence-and this restoration has started,” he continued. “This will not stop as long as the United States US public health institutions are once again used people with transparency, honesty and integrity.”

Fox News Digital contacted the HHS to comment but did not hear immediately.