Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on April 16 faced lawmakers both critical and supportive of actions regarding vaccines made by himself and agencies under his oversight.
Multiple Democrats on the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee said during a hearing with Kennedy in Washington that the narrowing of vaccine guidance and rollback of campaigns urging people to receive vaccines is endangering Americans.
“Let me be clear: Nothing has changed in the science behind vaccines,” Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the panel, told Kennedy during his opening remarks. He accused Kennedy of politicizing the issue.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with support from Kennedy, has scaled back recommendations for vaccinations against influenza, rotavirus, and four other illnesses, although those changes are delayed after being stayed by a federal judge.
Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) said it was “incredibly harmful” to end the recommendation that all newborns receive a hepatitis B vaccine shortly after birth, asserting that all babies are at risk.
Kennedy said: “Hepatitis B is a terrible disease, but babies are not at risk. They essentially have zero risk unless their mother is infected.”
He also touched on his broader outlook on shots, noting that even with the rollback in recommendations, none of the vaccines were removed from vaccination schedules.
“Parents can assess the risk themselves through informed consent,” he said. “Insurance will pay for it. We just believe that Americans should have that choice, that the state should not make that choice for them.”
Kennedy was appearing before Congress for the first time in 2026. He has multiple other hearings scheduled in the coming days, including one on the afternoon of April 16.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also in 2025 stopped campaigns that encouraged vaccines, including messaging that emphasized that people should receive influenza shots. That drew criticism from Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.), who said that a messaging campaign could have prevented the measles outbreaks that have appeared across the country since mid-2025.
When Sánchez asked whether President Donald Trump approved ending the campaigns, Kennedy declined to answer, telling the congresswoman that her remarks contained “a lot of misinformation.”
“We’ve done better at preventing measles and ending the epidemic than any country in the world,” Kennedy said.
The United States in 2025 recorded the most measles cases since 1991, although a number of other countries, such as Mexico, logged more cases.
Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) told The Epoch Times outside the hearing that he felt that Kennedy “didn’t really answer any of the questions as it relates to vaccines.” He said Kennedy has been spreading myths and unfounded rumors and highlighted how Kennedy, a lawyer, does not have a medical degree.
Republicans on the committee, on the other hand, repeatedly praised Kennedy, including for his position on vaccines.
“Thank you for your commonsense approach to choice and [being] pro-safety, as opposed to being anti-vaccine,” Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) said, noting that during the COVID-19 pandemic, she had sought but did not receive from U.S. authorities an exemption from COVID-19 vaccine mandates for tennis star Novak Djokovic.
Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) said later to Kennedy: “You are a breath of fresh air.
“I believe in all my heart that you just want to do the right thing for our country.”
