���ϳԹ���

Over four days and nearly 20 hours of testimony, under harsh questioning from Democrats, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly backed away from his longstanding criticism of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. On Wednesday, he made his strongest statement yet — albeit on behalf of his department and not himself. “We promote the M.M.R.,” Mr. Kennedy told the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday morning, referring to the combined vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella. “We have advised every child to get the M.M.R. That’s what we do.” (Gay Stolberg, 4/22)

Today Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared before two Senate committees and distanced himself from record-breaking measles outbreaks in the United States, despite his role as overseeing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one of the many agencies in the HHS umbrella. His testimony capped off a busy week on Capitol Hill, where he made seven appearances. (Soucheray, 4/22)

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) fact-checked Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. multiple times Wednesday about his insistence that vaccines have not helped improve mortality. Kennedy cited two studies during his testimony in the Senate health committee to prove that deaths due to some of the most common infectious diseases fell dramatically during the 20th century long before vaccines were widely used. In one instance, Kennedy cited a December 2000 paper published in the journal Pediatrics by a Johns Hopkins researcher that concluded that vaccinations alone don’t account “for impressive declines in mortality seen in the first half of the century.” (Weixel, 4/22)

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended President Trump’s frequent incorrect calculations of percentages when talking about discounts on prescription drug prices, arguing on Wednesday that the president “has a different way of calculating.” “If you have a $600 drug, and you reduce it to $10, that’s a 600 percent reduction,” Mr. Kennedy said during a congressional hearing. Mr. Kennedy is mathematically incorrect. A price reduction from $600 to $10 would be a discount of more than 98 percent. A price discount cannot be more than 100 percent, because that would lower the price to zero — or suggest that the company was giving you money for buying the product. (Cameron, 4/22)

Bill Cassidy, the foremost Republican critic of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the Senate, is broadening his assault. Cassidy, who’s called out Kennedy repeatedly for Kennedy’s efforts to sow doubt about the importance of vaccination, attacked him Wednesday for not doing enough to stop people from taking abortion pills. (Levien, 4/22)

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday said he would support a potential ban on junk food TV advertisements in the U.S. – an effort that would likely draw fierce backlash from major food manufacturers. (Constantino, 4/22)

He was combative, defensive and occasionally contrite. He vehemently denied, then halfheartedly apologized for suggesting in 2024 that Black children would benefit from being “re-parented.” He shouted at Democratic senators, accusing them of “grandstanding” and “selective indignation.” He insisted he had delivered “historic wins” for the health of the American people. In the end, after four days of testimony during seven separate congressional hearings on President Trump’s budget, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. walked a fine line, trying to please both his base and the White House at the same time. (Gay Stolberg and Jewett, 4/22)