Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy shouted at each other during a contentious hearing on Thursday.
While appearing before the Senate Finance Committee, Warren challenged the secretary about earlier claims that he would not restrict access to vaccines.
"So last November, while you are under consideration to become Secretary of Health and Human Services, Mr. Kennedy, you said, quote, if vaccines are working for somebody, I'm not going to take them away," Warren noted. "No exceptions, no ifs, or buts. You would not take away vaccines from anyone who wanted them."
"Then last week you announced that the COVID-19 vaccine is no longer approved for healthy people under the age of 65," she continued.
"It's not recommended for healthy people," Kennedy agreed.
"If you don't recommend, then the consequence of that in many states is that you can't walk into a pharmacy and get one!" Warren exclaimed. "You are effectively denying people vaccines!"
"We're not going to recommend a product for which there's no clinical data for that indication!" Kennedy shouted back. "Is that what I should be doing?"
"What you should be doing is honoring your promise that you made when you were looking to get confirmed in this job," Warren stated. "Did you hold up a big sign saying that you were lying when you said that because you are the one who said you would not take them away?"
"You want me to indicate a product for which there is no clinical data?" Kennedy complained. "Is that what you want? I'm not taking them away! Everybody can get access to them!"
"No, they can't walk into a pharmacy the way they could last month and get access to a whole vaccine," Warren insisted before pressing Kennedy about his firing of CDC official Susan Monarez.
"Do you tell the head of the CDC that if she refused to sign off on your changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, that she had to resign?" the senator asked.
"No, I told her that she had to resign because I asked her, are you a trustworthy person?" Kennedy said. "And she said no."
Warren pointed out that Monarez had publicly disputed Kennedy's claim.
"So you're saying she's lying?" she asked. "This is the same person that, less than a month earlier, you stood next to her and described her as unimpeachable."
"It looks like she didn't bend the knee, so you fired her," Warren remarked. "Look, you're putting America's babies' health at risk, American's seniors' health at risk, all Americans' health at risk, and you should resign."