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'You've Taken $855,000 From Pharmaceutical Companies": Kennedy Spars With Senators During Wild Testimony

Tyler Durden's Photo
by Tyler Durden
Authored...

Update (1520ET): Well that was actually pretty interesting. As Democrat Senators read prepared zingers to try and corner RFK Jr. over vaccines and other malarkey, Kennedy hit back with several very specific haymakers during the three-hour session - calling the Democratic lawmakers 'liars' - and even pointing out the Elizabeth Warren has taken nearly a million dollars from pharmaceutical companies. 

Defiant on CDC Firings

At the center of Thursday’s hearing was Kennedy’s surprise decision last week to fire CDC Director Susan Monarez, just a month after she took the job. The move plunged the agency into turmoil, prompting several senior officials to resign.

Kennedy accused Monarez of lying in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published the same morning, in which she claimed she was removed for refusing to “rubber stamp” vaccine recommendations from Kennedy’s advisory committee.

“We are the sickest country in the world, that’s why we have to fire people at CDC,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy also defended his June purge of 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, known as ACIP, framing the move as an effort to “depoliticize” the committee. “I didn’t politicize ACIP, I depoliticized it,” he insisted.

Kennedy also said that that leading medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, were compromised because they accept pharmaceutical industry funding. That prompted an exasperated retort from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT):

“In your eyes, everybody but you is corrupt.”

Pocahontas Down

During one fiery exchange with Senator Elizabeth Warren, Kennedy said " know you've taken $855K from PHARMA COMPANIES, SENATOR!" 

Wyden down too!

Julian Down!

Warning Shot From GOP Leadership

The most striking moment came when Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, warned that Kennedy’s policies risk undermining decades of medical progress. Barrasso, who rarely breaks from his party’s leadership, signaled growing unease within the GOP about Kennedy’s sweeping changes.

“I’ve grown deeply concerned,” Barrasso said, citing both the recent CDC director firing and measles outbreaks. “There are real concerns that safe, proven vaccines like measles, Hepatitis B, and others could be in jeopardy, and that would put Americans at risk and reverse decades of progress.”

Trump’s Role Complicates GOP Strategy

Some Republican senators also sought to drive a wedge between Kennedy and President Trump, highlighting the former president’s past praise of Operation Warp Speed - the 2020 initiative to accelerate vaccine development.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said Trump deserved a Nobel Prize for ramping up vaccine production and criticized Kennedy’s decision to cancel $500 million in federal grants for new mRNA vaccine research.

“Canceling those contracts seems like a commentary upon what the president did in Operation Warp Speed,” Cassidy said.

He warned that Kennedy’s limits on federal vaccine funding are already causing confusion for consumers, noting reports of pharmacies unable to provide COVID-19 boosters due to shifting Health and Human Services recommendations.

“I would say effectively we’re denying people the vaccine,” Cassidy said.

Looking Ahead: CDC Vaccine Recommendations

Several senators pressed Kennedy on upcoming decisions by the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, amid fears that broader vaccine recommendations for childhood diseases could be scaled back.

Kennedy offered few details but sought to reassure lawmakers on one point:

“I do not anticipate a change in measles vaccine recommendations,” he said.

Still, uncertainty lingers over how far Kennedy intends to take his overhaul of federal vaccine policy — and how much support he retains within his own party.

*  *  *

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is testifying before the Senate today on the Trump administration's health agenda - where he's expected to face questions over a spate of firings and other leadership changes at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is testifying before the Senate finance committee.
Eric Lee/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Of note, RFK Jr. moved to fire former CDC Director Susan Monarez, while several top leaders at the agency resigned in protest. 

Watch Live:

The rot within the CDC goes back decades, however the most glaring example of their incompetence - or worse, was on full display during the COVID-19 pandemic - when the agency knew as early as October of 2020 that the median Infection Fatality Rate (IFR) of covid was a tiny 0.23% (meaning 99.8% of the population was not under threat). 

Instead of focusing their response on those actually at risk - the elderly and the frail, the CDC joined with Democrats to fear monger over "mass deaths in the streets".

Now, as Kennedy cleans house, the left is losing their minds.

Meanwhile, a CDC advisory committee has launched a review of COVID-19 vaccines, and will review data on the shots related to their safety, effectiveness, and immunogenicity, according to an Aug. 20 document, which was released by the CDC.

Members also plan to look at gaps in existing knowledge “relating to bio distribution, pharmacokinetics, and persistence of the spike protein, mRNA, and lipid nanoparticles to inform immunization recommendations,” the document states.

Studies have found that the spike protein and mRNA in the vaccines persist for some time. Lipid nanoparticles are used to deliver the mRNA.

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