Democrats spar with RFK Jr. over health agenda at hearing: "People are going to die"

Jun

2025

In the News

Democrats spar with RFK Jr. over health agenda at hearing: "People are going to die"

Many of the Republican committee members came to Kennedy's defense, including Florida Rep. Kat Cammack, who congratulated Kennedy for disrupting the "broken status quo," and Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who said restructuring is "never an easy task".

Here are some other highlights from the hearing...

COVID vaccines and pregnancy

Kennedy said last month that he would remove the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendation for children and healthy pregnant women to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

At Tuesday's hearing, Kennedy said "study after study shows adverse events" after COVID-19 shots during pregnancy. Without citing where the study came from, Kennedy said one study showed "27 adverse events during pregnancy."

Officials at the Food and Drug Administration, however, recently reiterated that pregnancy was among the underlying conditions that warranted continued eligibility for COVID-19 vaccine approvals.

"We're not depriving anybody of choice," Kennedy said. "If a pregnant woman wants the COVID-19 vaccine, she can get it. We're no longer recommending it because there was no science supporting that recommendation."

"Not true," Democratic Rep. Robin Kelly of Illinois rebutted. "We have a pediatrician that is on this committee. Not true."

House Democrat Kim Schrier of Washington is a former pediatrician, who said during her allotted time that she found it "extremely alarming" that Kennedy announced changes to vaccine recommendations "without consulting the customary panel of experts."

By Sara Moniuszko