President Donald Trump‘s Secretary of Human and Health Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., testified before the Senate last week after alarming many lawmakers with his changes at HHS including firing top CDC officials, cancelling hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for research on mRNA vaccine technology, and limiting access to COVID shots.
U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a physician who supports vaccines, voiced concern about Kennedy’s confirmation in January but voted for the vaccine skeptic anyway — and promised oversight of Kennedy when he voted to confirm him.
At the Senate hearing on Thursday, Cassidy asked Kennedy if Trump deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for Operation Warp Speed, which enabled the swift production and distribution of COVID vaccines during the pandemic. Kennedy replied: “Absolutely.”
Expressing puzzlement, Cassidy responded: “But you just told Sen. Bennett that the COVID vaccine killed more people than COVID. That was a statement.” The Senator added: “It surprises me that you think so highly of Operation Warp Speed when, as an attorney, you attempted to restrict access” to the COVID vaccine.
GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, a longtime physician, read out emails he received from people who say they’ve had difficulty accessing vaccines.
“I would say, effectively, we’re denying people vaccines,” Cassidy said.
“You’re wrong,” HHS Sec. RFK Jr. responded. https://t.co/ekIqQgv02H pic.twitter.com/5vIuikgrEr
— ABC News (@ABC) September 4, 2025
Trump critic and former GOP presidential candidate and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie slammed Kennedy, Trump and Cassidy on ABC News’ This Week on Sunday.
Christie said: “Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a foolish man, full of foolish and vapid ideas. And that was on display again this week in front of Congress.”
Chris Christie: His appearance before Congress has confirmed what we’ve all known for decades-RFK Jr. is a foolish man full of foolish and vapid ideas…
I really don’t want to hear about Senator Cassidy because he is a coconspirator with Trump for putting this wholly unqualified… pic.twitter.com/cRO18rYNYf
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) September 7, 2025
He added, “Now, I really don’t want to hear about Bill Cassidy, because he is a co-conspirator with the President of the United States for putting this wholly unqualified man in charge of 25 percent of all government spending. Without [Cassidy] casting a vote, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. would not be in there. Maybe he’s feeling some guilt from what he did.”
Christie added: “The president is smart enough to know Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. does not belong in that job. But after he won, he wanted to show everybody ‘I can do whatever I want to do because this Senate will be compliant no matter what I do.’” Christie referred to Trump’s alleged vengeful nomination of Kennedy as “the human middle finger to everyone who opposed him.”
Cassidy wasn’t the only Republican lawmaker and physician to support Kennedy’s nomination and then castigate the HHS Secretary at the hearing. A Kennedy grilling by Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) saw comedian Stephen Colbert (below) have a reaction similar to that of Christie, since Kennedy’s vaccine views were part of the public record at the time of his confirmation.