Lawmakers clash with RFK Jr as he shifts focus away from vaccines

Lawmakers clash with RFK Jr as he shifts focus away from vaccines1 hour agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleMadeline HalpertGetty ImagesDuring a three-hour budget hearing, Kennedy tried to focus on chronic disease while lawmakers pressed him on vaccinesDuring Robert F Kennedy's first hearing before US Congress in months, lawmakers grilled him on his handling of the worst measles outbreak in decades, as the health secretary tried to shift focus away from his vaccine stances.Democrats from the House Ways & Means Committee accused Kennedy of bungling his response to measles and undermining the safety of childhood immunisations. Kennedy did not discuss his vaccine agenda, instead focusing on "ending the era of federal policies that fuelled the chronic disease epidemic" in the US. "President Trump and I are challenging the status quo and the institutions that defend it as we work to make America healthy again in just 15 months," he said. Kennedy was at the hearing on Thursday to present the Trump administration's proposal to cut his agency's budget in the coming fiscal year by about $16bn (£11.8bn), a 12.5% cut from last year.During the three-hour appearance, Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, heard a range of complaints from lawmakers related to his cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) staff and cancer research as well as his changes to vaccine recommendations. "Your dangerous conspiracy theories are undermining safe and effective vaccines," California's Democratic Representative Mike Thompson told Kennedy, alongside a chart of the nearly 4,000 measles cases the US reported in 2025 and 2026. Since taking office, Kennedy has attempted to remake longstanding US vaccine policies, including slashing the number of recommended shots for children and replacing an expert advisory panel with several vaccine critics. But in March, a judge struck down much of those changes, finding the new members of th...