Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was hammered by a number of Democratic senators for his history of activism against certain vaccines that they argued contradicted his most recent remarks.
He tried to mount an offense beginning with his opening statement: “News reports complain that I am anti-vaccine or anti-industry. I am neither.”
A woman in the crowd shouted, “He lies!” and was escorted out.
For several hours on Wednesday, Mr. Kennedy made several attempts to portray himself as “pro-vaccine.” But many of the Democrats on the panel repeatedly referred to a variety of public remarks he has made that questioned the safety of vaccines and their effectiveness or that, in some cases, falsely claimed they were unsafe.
In the past, Mr. Kennedy has suggested that vaccines have been linked to autism and other childhood diseases, which is false. During the height of the pandemic, he also petitioned the F.D.A. to stop coronavirus vaccinations for people of all ages.
Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, began the questioning by pressing Mr. Kennedy on his comments in 2023, when he said on a podcast that “no vaccine is safe and effective,” and that he would do anything to go back in time and not vaccinate his children.
Mr. Kennedy said that his comments were taken out of context, and that he had intended to note that all vaccines, like all drugs, have side effects. He accused Mr. Wyden of being “dishonest.”
Later, when Mr. Wyden asked about his past stances that played down measles, Mr. Kennedy pushed back.
“I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine,” he said. He added that he would do nothing as head of the Department of Health and Human Services “that makes it difficult or discourages people” from receiving those vaccinations.
But he has suggested in the past that the polio vaccine caused many deaths, and a close legal adviser once challenged the approval or distribution of some polio vaccines on the grounds that they might be unsafe.
Several senators accused Mr. Kennedy of retreating from his past remarks for the purposes of assuaging concerns and to advance his confirmation prospects.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, raised the ethical questions surrounding his legal work for which he was paid over $2 million for consulting and referrals for a law firm suing a vaccine maker.
In his ethics agreement filed in advance of the Senate hearings, he would be allowed to keep a 10 percent stake in the outcome of litigation now pending against Merck, the drug maker of Gardasil, the HPV vaccine.
She pressed him to pledge that he would not profit while in office from work against drug companies and for four years after. He did not answer all of her specific points, but said he would not take money from drug companies.
But, he added: “You’re asking me to not sue drug companies? I’m not going to agree to that.”
He said he had complied with ethics rules and repeated that he supports vaccines.
“The only thing I want is good science,” he said.
Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont, brought up the Children’s Health Defense, which is the organization Mr. Kennedy co-founded that has spread falsehoods about vaccinations for children, pulling up images of onesies sold by the nonprofit that read “Unvaxxed, Unafraid” and “No Vax, No Problem.”
“Are you supportive of these onesies?” Mr. Sanders said.
“I am supportive of vaccines,” Mr. Kennedy said.
Mr. Sanders repeated the question, in which Mr. Kennedy repeated his response, adding that he just wants “good science.”
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