By MATT BROWN and MIKE STOBBE, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., facing pointed bipartisan questioning at a rancorous three-hour Senate committee hearing on Thursday, tried to defend his efforts to pull back COVID-19 vaccine recommendations and explain the turmoil he has created at federal health agencies.

Kennedy said the fired CDC director was untrustworthy , stood by his past anti-vaccine rhetoric , and disputed reports of people saying they have had difficulty getting COVID-19 shots .

Medical groups and several Democrats in Congress have called for Kennedy to be fired, and his exchanges with Democratic senators on the panel repeatedly devolved into shouting, from both sides.

Some Republican senators also expressed unease with

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