Overview

• In a tense three-hour Finance Committee session, Kennedy defended pulling back COVID-19 vaccine recommendations, denied limiting access, and questioned widely accepted pandemic death figures.
• Republican physicians John Barrasso and Bill Cassidy, along with Thom Tillis, challenged him on vaccine policy, advisory panel changes, and potential conflicts of interest, though they stopped short of urging his removal.
• Kennedy justified firing CDC Director Susan Monarez last week after less than a month on the job, while Monarez alleged illegal pressure to preapprove vaccine guidance and her lawyers said she would testify to that under oath.
• Policy shifts under Kennedy include replacing the ACIP roster with vaccine skeptics and cutting roughly $500 million in mRNA vaccine funding, as FDA and CDC changes have narrowed booster eligibility and left pharmacies in some states turning people away.
• Calls for Kennedy to resign have mounted from more than 1,000 current and former HHS staffers and multiple medical societies, even as the White House and the president voiced continued backing and congressional oversight pressure grows.