Overview

• At a contentious Senate Finance Committee hearing, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended overhauls at the CDC and denied ordering ousted Director Susan Monarez to preapprove recommendations from a revamped vaccine panel.
• Kennedy acknowledged asking Monarez to dismiss career CDC staff, while she alleges he sought rubber‑stamped vaccine guidance from a committee he repopulated with skeptics.
• Several Republicans joined Democrats in pressing Kennedy, highlighting contradictions on Operation Warp Speed and challenging his efforts to curb mRNA research funding.
• Kennedy questioned the COVID death toll and whether vaccines saved lives, drawing sharp rebukes as senators cited established data from the agencies he oversees.
• Access effects are emerging as CVS and Walgreens scale back COVID shots, the FDA limits eligibility to older or high‑risk adults, and West Coast states move to issue independent vaccine guidance.