Robert Kennedy Jr. speaks about his plans for medical advancement in front of the Senate Finance Committee.
(PBS NewsHour)
Robert Kennedy Jr. faced fierce questioning by the Senate Committee on Finance Wednesday during his first of two days of confirmation hearings to be Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stance prompted many of the questions posed by the committee. The nominee publicly supported the claims that the COVID vaccine is associated with medical issues and that childhood vaccinations cause autism.
In the hearing, Indiana Sen. Todd Young grilled Kennedy on COVID-19 and medical research plans. The senator highlighted the growing public skepticism around public health institutions and the increasing belief that the institutions are acting in bad faith or failing to act in the best interests of the public.
Kennedy responded that the institutions need to be transparent to regain trust.
“The reason people don't trust the public health agencies is because they haven't been trustworthy,” Kennedy said. “We need to tell Americans what we don't know.”
Young said that despite the Biden Administration's assertion that the pandemic is over millions of Americans continue to grapple with the effects of long-COVID.
“As we continue to navigate the ongoing impacts of the COVID pandemic, we have many individuals here in the United States and around the world who are suffering from long-term health effects that significantly impact their quality of life, work and daily activities, and they've been largely ignored,” Young said.
Young pointed out that patient groups and industry publications have criticized the slow pace of clinical trials. Kennedy pledged to collaborate with healthcare providers and researchers to study and mitigate the impact of long COVID. He promised that funding would be put towards new research and not repeating past observational studies.
Young asked how the nominee would balance his priorities of healthy lifestyle and chronic disease with advancing modern medicine and pharmaceuticals. Kennedy said that innovation is the way forward.
“We have a unique opportunity now in history, because of AI, because of telemedicine and because of the quality of people that are now coming to HHS to actually save public health,” Kennedy said, “but it's all going to rely on innovation.”
