RFK Jr. defends vaccine guidance changes and health spending cuts

[0:00] Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was back on Capitol Hill today, this time testifying before [0:06] senators for his sixth and seventh public hearing since last week. These hearings mark his first [0:11] time back before lawmakers in months, giving members a chance to press him on some of the [0:16] biggest changes he's making on spending cuts, vaccines and other public health issues. Lisa [0:22] Desjardins has been covering those hearings and filed this report. The committee will come to [0:27] order. Today, HHS Secretary RFK Jr. reached the finish line in a marathon of hearings about his [0:33] agency's budget and proposed cuts to it. We are cutting red tape, speeding to decisions and [0:40] abandoning transparency. We're also cracking down on ways fraud and abuse. President Trump's budget [0:46] proposal calls for a 12 percent cut, billions of dollars to the National Institutes of Health and [0:51] cuts to programs that support mental health, women's health, HIV AIDS prevention and more. [0:57] But senators raised a full array of topics. Do you realize that last year, the United States had [1:05] the highest number of measles cases in 30 years? Under Secretary Kennedy, the U.S. is facing the worst [1:12] measles outbreak it's seen in decades, over 2,000 cases last year, as the country has seen a drop in [1:18] vaccination rates for kids. While some Republicans applauded Kennedy's handling of the outbreak. [1:24] We would not be on the right side of this outbreak without your leadership. [1:28] Democrats pointed to his past comments questioning vaccines and his move last year to reconstruct the [1:34] HHS vaccine advisory panel, adding several members who are vaccine skeptics. [1:40] Why would you be doing something that is so awful for kids on this vaccine issue? [1:47] Senator, we, under my leadership, handle the measles outbreak better than any country in the world. [1:55] This is a global outbreak. [1:56] In the day's second hearing, Republican Bill Cassidy, a doctor himself, followed up on a previous question, [2:02] which Kennedy did not answer yesterday, about Trump's nominee to direct the CDC, Dr. Erica Schwartz. [2:08] She supports immunizations. [2:10] Will the new director, whoever she is, have the right to make decisions independently of those political appointees [2:19] and or replace them or otherwise reassign them so they cannot continue to actively undermine trust and immunizations? [2:28] Your characterization of the political appointees is wrong and the CDC director has that power. [2:36] Kennedy's past words came up a few times, including these comments he made in a 2024 podcast suggesting something called Wellness Farms. [2:44] Every black kid is now just put on Adderall, SSRIs, Benzos, which are known to induce violence. [2:56] And those kids are going to have a chance to go somewhere and get reparented, to live in a community where there'll be no cell phones, no screens. [3:05] But in a House hearing last week, he denied saying that. [3:09] You are suggesting that the federal government should take black children away from their families and reparent them [3:15] and send them off to some wellness farm instead of providing them with evidence-based medical... [3:19] You're just making stuff up. [3:21] I am absolutely not making this up. [3:23] Kennedy today apologized for the remarks, but maintained that he doesn't remember making them. [3:28] Throughout, Republicans praised Kennedy for out-of-the-box thinking, [3:32] and his work on everything from drugs for PTSD to nutrition. [3:36] I believe that your effort and focus on making America healthy again [3:40] and helping us to focus on nutrition and prevention and healthy lifestyles [3:47] is one of the most significant things that you have done. [3:50] The hearing's a reminder of how much Kennedy oversees, from Medicaid and Medicare to the FDA, [3:55] and how much of American life he touches. [3:58] For more on Health Secretary Kennedy, what he is prioritizing, [4:02] and the continuing questions around much of his agenda, I'm joined now by Dr. Deb Howery. [4:08] She served as the chief medical officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [4:11] until she resigned in protest at the firing of CDC Director Susan Menares last year. [4:17] Dr. Howery, I want to get your reaction to these hearings. [4:20] And among the things that we know going into it, where there were multiple supports suggesting [4:24] that the White House had pressured RFK to publicly say less about vaccines, [4:30] from what you heard in these hearings, do you think his position has changed on vaccines, [4:35] or how do you understand it? [4:37] Not at all. [4:38] He was very clear. [4:40] He didn't know information about the hepatitis B vaccine, [4:43] how long it had been safety tested for. [4:45] He spoke incorrectly about that. [4:47] He didn't even understand how babies get hepatitis B. [4:50] He said only from moms. [4:52] He also, when he talked about measles, he said, you know, the child could have died from it. [5:00] And then he also said that healthy people don't usually die from infections. [5:05] But I think having 130 pediatric flu deaths that were unvaccinated, I beg to differ. [5:12] Now, Kennedy did say repeatedly during these hearings that he believes vaccines save lives, [5:18] that he wants them to save lives. [5:20] He says he questions if they've all been vetted, essentially. [5:23] I wonder, do you think his policies back that up, this idea of vaccines as life-saving? [5:27] I know that sounds like a weighted question, but it's an important one. [5:30] He really cherry-picks, like, data and studies. [5:34] To Senator Cassidy, he presented this one study, and he talked about how it was really sanitation [5:39] that saved lives and not vaccines. [5:42] I looked at the paper, and at the end of the paper, it says vaccines significantly contributed [5:47] to the decline in diseases. [5:48] And actually, there were still several hundred deaths from measles before vaccines were introduced, [5:54] that then when vaccines came into play, those deaths went to zero. [5:59] So the secretary presents things to fit his agenda versus actually using data and science [6:05] to drive decisions. [6:06] That was an interesting discussion about what changed in the 20th century in terms of public [6:12] health. [6:12] But I want to ask about someone now in the 21st century who could be a really important [6:16] lieutenant for Secretary Kennedy. [6:19] And that's President Trump's pick to run the CDC. [6:22] That, of course, is Dr. Erica Schwartz. [6:24] She's publicly supported vaccinations and immunizations, but you've been concerned that she could be [6:29] ousted or overruled. [6:31] Today, as we heard, Secretary Kennedy said, no, she will have independent authority. [6:36] Did that give you any reassurance? [6:39] Well, today he said she'd have independent authority to get rid of the CDC political appointees [6:45] who have been undermining vaccines. [6:47] But earlier this week, he said that he wouldn't necessarily sign off on her vaccine recommendations. [6:52] And I thought that was one of the few truthful things the secretary has said. [6:57] Does her nomination itself make you think the Trump administration wants to go a different [7:01] direction from the secretary? [7:04] Potentially. [7:05] But what concerns me is the secretary is still who the CDC director reports to. [7:11] And when you look at the vaccine committee that the CDC director gets advisory information [7:17] from, the charter was updated last week and it changed it from expertise to just knowledge. [7:22] And the secretary is still asking for information around vaccine safety and still misspeaking [7:29] about vaccines. [7:30] So I think it's really window dressing at this time. [7:33] Kennedy indicated he is investing in some health priorities, including Alzheimer's. [7:39] But obviously there have been cuts in many areas under him. [7:42] Senator Collins raised some reporting yesterday that indicates grants with the word women in [7:48] them have been cut by some 31 percent. [7:51] I want to ask you, where do you see cuts in NIH and research right now? [7:57] I think it's really confusing when you look at the congressional budget versus the president's [8:03] budget as well as the secretary's leadership. [8:05] Programs like smoking and reproductive health and oral health, violence prevention, drowning are [8:12] all in the congressional budget, but they're not in the president's budget. [8:16] And all those staff are gone from CDC. [8:19] So it's unclear how these lifesaving programs are going to be implemented when there's no people to do it. [8:24] Dr. Deb Howery, we will continue following this along with you. [8:28] And we really appreciate your time. [8:29] Thank you. [8:30] Thank you. [8:31] Support journalism you trust. [8:44] Support PBS News. 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