"Charlatan," "ignorant": Democrats blast RFK Jr. on vaccines

• Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called for Kennedy's resignation in a collective statement Thursday, saying he has "failed to protect the health of the American people and endangers the lives of all Americans."

Driving the news: During a heated line of questioning about Kennedy's "clean sweep" of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) said "This is not a podcast. It is the American people's health that's on the line here."

• Kennedy, asked if he would publicly share evidence the panel will rely on, argued that "the evidence is transparent for the first time in history."
• Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) slammed the secretary as a "charlatan," saying he conflates "chronic disease with the need for vaccines."

Zoom out: Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) lambasted Kennedy, who said he was unaware how many Americans died from COVID and sidestepped questions on whether the vaccine saved lives.

• "I don't think anybody knows that [the number of deaths] because there was so much data chaos coming out of the CDC," Kennedy said. Asked if the vaccine did anything to prevent additional deaths, Kennedy replied, "I would like to see the data."
• "How can you be that ignorant?" Warner asked.

In a contentious back-and-forth with Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Kennedy accused her of "making stuff up" as Hassan questioned him on the FDA's new COVID vaccine policies and accused him of a lack of transparency.

• "Sometimes, when you make an accusation, it's kind of a confession, Mr. Kennedy," she replied.
• Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) called for Kennedy to resign or be fired, describing him as a "hazard to the health of the American people."

Yes, but: Kennedy also received a tough line of questioning from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician who voted to confirm him as secretary despite publicly struggling with the choice.

• Cassidy — also the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — questioned whether Kennedy agreed with him that Trump deserved a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed. Kennedy said he did.

• The Louisiana senator proceeded to grill Kennedy on his stance on vaccines and the cancellation of $500 million in funding for new mRNA vaccines, calling his praise for Operation Warp Speed "inconsistent."
• He ended his questioning bluntly: "I would say, effectively, we're denying people" vaccines.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) also criticized Kennedy for the ousting of ex-CDC director Susan Monarez, who the secretary once applauded as a "public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials."

Catch up quick: Monarez, who served as director for just weeks, wrote in an op-ed that she was instructed to pre-approve the recommendations of Kennedy's vaccine advisory panel.

• Kennedy accused her of lying in Thursday's hearing, and a spokesperson for HHS told Axios that Monarez "was never told to preapprove anything."

Context: Kennedy has made several dizzying changes that upended years of vaccine policy and research, Axios' Victoria Knight reports.

• That's included naming new members to ACIP, the expert panel that makes vaccine policy recommendations to the CDC.
• Some of those appointees expressed anti-vaccine views or signed the Great Barrington Declaration, a petition that advocated for allowing COVID to spread among young, healthy people to reach herd immunity faster.

Go deeper: Ousted CDC director: This "isn't reform. It is sabotage."

Editor's note: This story has been updated with new information throughout.