After Robert F Kennedy’s bruising performance in a heated three-and-a-half-hour Senate confirmation hearing to become America’s top health official on Wednesday, he’s off to the health committee on Thursday morning for round two.
The 71-year-old faces another grueling day of questioning from a more health-minded crowd, with Republican chair Bill Cassidy – a physician who caught Kennedy confusing basic facts about Medicare and Medicaid in Wednesday’s session – likely to press further on his grasp of America’s healthcare system.
The independent senator Bernie Sanders, who on Wednesday confronted Kennedy over anti-vaccine merchandise sold by his former organization Children’s Health Defense, is expected to continue probing the nominee’s controversial vaccine statements that have drawn fierce opposition from the medical community.
Democrats landed repeated blows in Wednesday’s hearing, with Senator Michael Bennet accusing Kennedy of “peddling half-truths” throughout his career and Senator Ron Wyden confronting him with seemingly contradictory statements about vaccines from podcasts in the past.
Kennedy’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services has sparked unprecedented pushback, with more than 15,000 medical professionals and 75 Nobel laureates mobilizing against his confirmation.
Despite insisting he supports vaccines and would not restrict access if confirmed, Kennedy’s history of controversial statements – including claims that “no vaccine is safe and effective” – are likely to face more scrutiny as senators weigh whether to hand one of America’s most prominent vaccine skeptics control of its public health system.
