RFK Jr. faced tough hearing on vaccines, CDC changes : Shots

Published

2 days ago

September 4, 2025

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrives to testify before the Senate Finance Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on September 4, 2025 in Washington, DC.

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Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

In a contentious Senate hearing marked by raised voices and heated exchanges, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced calls to resign from Democrats and unexpected criticism from Republicans.

Several Republican senators brought up the legacy of President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed, which sent a safe COVID vaccine to the public in record time, helping save millions of lives. They pushed Kennedy to explain his current approach to the shots and mRNA technology.

The Food and Drug Administration's approvals for the latest round of COVID-19 shots restrict the shots to people at higher risk of complications from COVID.

Under his leadership, the health agency cancelled hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding on mRNA technology for future vaccines, and the Food and Drug Administration limited access to the COVID shots, saying only people at high risk of complications from COVID or those over 65.

“President Trump deserves a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and physician, whose vote was critical in Kennedy’s confirmation. He demanded Kennedy explain his changing stance on COVID vaccines, and said: “effectively, we’re denying people vaccine” — an assertion echoed by many physicians’ groups including the American Association of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association.

Cassidy had exacted assurances from Kennedy during his confirmation process in February that he would not restrict Americans’ access to vaccines, a promise the senator now accuses Kennedy of violating. Kennedy fired the entire 17-member Advisory Panel on Immunization Practices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, replacing them with members Cassidy argued are largely unscientific vaccine skeptics with vested financial interests in suing vaccine makers.

In this photo provided by the Department of Health and Human Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., right, conducts the swearing-in ceremony of Jim O'Neill as the department's deputy secretary, June 9, 2025, in Washington, D.C.

Another Republican physician on the Senate Finance Committee, Dr. John Barrasso of Wyoming, joined Democrats in criticizing Kennedy for undermining vaccines.

“In your confirmation hearings, you promised to uphold the highest standards for vaccines. Since then, I’ve grown deeply concerned,” Barrasso told Kennedy at the hearing. “I’ve been hearing from many of my medical colleagues, and there are real concerns that safe, proven vaccines like measles, like hepatitis B and others, could be in jeopardy and that would put Americans at risk and reverse decades of progress.”

He accused Kennedy of politicizing vaccines further, and undermining public health.

CDC leadership change debated

Kennedy hotly defended his decisions and statements on vaccines and on changes at the CDC, arguing the agencies have historically relied on bad data.

A group of medical experts that advise the CDC largely determine which vaccines people should receive, what gets covered by insurance and which shots are made available free of charge to millions of low-income children.

“These changes were absolutely necessary adjustments to restore the agency to its role as the world’s gold standard public health agency,” he said. He claimed he had the backing of “scientists and doctors are supporting me all across the country.”

Senators also repeatedly asked Kennedy about his decision to push out newly confirmed CDC chief Susan Monarez. Though she was his own pick to lead the agency, he said Monarez was lying when she claimed she was fired from that job after only a month for insisting on rigorous scientific review.

In response to questions from Warren, Kennedy said: “I told her she had to resign because I asked her, ‘Are you a trustworthy person?’ And she said, ‘No.'”

Trump administration allies like Republican Ron Johnson of Wisconsin rushed to his defense, calling the senators’ pointed questions “abuse,” and lauding Kennedy for his attempts to overhaul health agencies.

Vaccine access arguments

Kennedy’s seven-and-a-half month tenure as Health Secretary is roiling the fields of science and health. His early sweeping changes included mass layoffs across the federal health and science agencies, from the FDA to the CDC to the National Institutes of Health.

Democratic senators took issue with these and other changes, as they and Kennedy accused each other of lying and manipulating data to serve political ends.

The committee’s ranking Democratic member Sen. Ron Wyden criticized Kennedy’s approach to vaccines: “I think Secretary Kennedy is dead set on making it harder for children to get vaccines and that kids are going to die because of it,” he said.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Democrat from Massachusetts, challenged Kennedy to “honor your promise that you made when you were looking to get confirmed” not to take away vaccines from people who want them. She said his recent moves to change the classification of the COVID vaccine do just that.

In response, Kennedy said “everybody can get access to them” for free, including those on Medicare and Medicaid, though the many contradictory statements have left many patients, doctors and insurers confused.

Kennedy said it was unclear the COVID vaccine had saved millions of lives — a data point generally accepted by scientists and doctors. But he also seemed to backtrack on assertions that he is “anti-vaccine,” arguing that there remain some unknown risks, even with long-approved vaccines.

“Saying I’m anti-vaccine is like saying I’m anti-medicine,” Kennedy said, arguing he just wants more research to look into possible risks. “It doesn’t mean that I’m, you know, anti-vax. It just means I’m pro-science.”

His argument didn’t appear to sway the Democratic senators in attendance, with several calling for Kennedy to resign throughout the hearing.

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Trump news at a glance: Anxiety in Chicago as Trump plans to send troops; postal traffic into US drops 80% | Trump administration

Published

2 hours ago

September 7, 2025

Guardian staff reporter

At least three events connected to Mexican Independence Day have been canceled or postponed in Chicago, amid reports that Donald Trump plans to send troops and immigration agents as part of plans to launch mass deportations.

Organizers decided to cancel El Grito Chicago, an event that drew 24,000 people last year and was scheduled for 13-14 September.

“It was a painful decision, but holding El Grito Chicago at this time puts the safety of our community at stake – and that’s a risk we are unwilling to take,” the event’s website stated. “While we’re torn by this decision, when we brought this celebration back, our aim was to create a safe, affordable, family-friendly, community festival for all.”

The anxiety in the country’s third-largest city comes after Trump deployed national guard troops to Los Angeles and Washington DC. Illinois governor JB Pritzker said he was concerned about Ice agents targeting people at the Mexican Independence Day events.

Here’s the day’s Trump administration news at a glance.

Mexican festivals in Chicago canceled amid Trump plans to deploy troops

Donald Trump’s plan to deploy national guard troops and federal immigration agents to Chicago is already having an impact on the city’s Mexican community.

Organizers have canceled several local events tied to Mexican Independence Day, which occurs on 16 September.

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Trump claims Chicago is ‘world’s most dangerous city’. The most violent ones are in red states

As Donald Trump threatens to deploy national guard units to cities ostensibly to quell violence, he repeatedly targets Democratic run-cities.

But an analysis of crime trends over the last four years shows two things. First, violent crime rates in America’s big cities have been falling over the last two years, and at an even greater rate over the last six months. The decrease in violence in America is unprecedented.

Second, crime in large cities in the aggregate is lower in states with Democratic leadership. But the president focuses his ire almost exclusively on large blue cities in blue states, sidestepping political conflict with red Republican governors.

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Postal traffic into US plunges by more than 80% after Trump ends exemption

Postal traffic into the US plunged by more than 80% after the Trump administration ended a tariff exemption for low-cost imports, the United Nations postal agency said Saturday.

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Rightwing conference reveals muddled lines between Trump and far right

A rightwing conference recently saw theocratic Christian nationalists, far-right publishers and members of men-only secret societies speaking alongside the Missouri senator Eric Schmitt, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at Donald Trump’s Department of Justice and other senior Republican figures.

The speaker list at the National Conservatism conference in Washington DC raises questions over what distinctions exist between the nationalist hard right in the US and members of the Trump administration and the Republican party.

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Trump administration begins new Ice operation in Massachusetts

The Trump administration has targeted Massachusetts as its next location to begin arresting and deporting immigrants, a Department of Homeland Security official confirmed to NBC News on Saturday.

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What else happened today:

Catching up? Here’s what happened on Friday 5 September.

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US Open asks broadcasters to avoid crowd reactions to Trump during men’s finals match

Published

2 hours ago

September 7, 2025

Brian Stelter

The last time President Trump attended a US Open match, as a presidential candidate in 2015, the booing was so loud that multiple news outlets wrote stories about the critical crowd reaction. ESPN’s live broadcast lingered on shots of Trump during a quarterfinal match.

Trump will be back on Sunday afternoon, attending the men’s final, prompting a question: What will ABC show and how?

The tennis championship, a beloved event in Trump’s hometown borough of Queens in deep-blue New York City, attracts a different crowd than, say, the UFC fighting matches that Trump has attended in recent months.

Whether Trump is met by jeers or cheers at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday, the US Tennis Association says it wants the focus to be on the court.

Disney’s ESPN is the US rights-holder for the tennis tournament, and Disney’s ABC is airing the men’s final on Sunday. The ESPN production plans to show Trump and note that he is in attendance, much the same way Fox showed Trump at the Super Bowl earlier this year.

Curiosity about the network’s coverage plan was piqued on Saturday after a prominent tennis writer, Ben Rothenberg, published a story titled, “U.S. Open Orders Broadcasters to Censor Reactions to Trump.”

He cited a tennis association memo to broadcasters, including ESPN, that asked them to “refrain from showcasing any disruptions or reactions in response to the president’s attendance.”

The memo seemed like a request rather than an order. In a statement to CNN, the association said, “We regularly ask our broadcasters to refrain from showcasing off-court disruptions.”

Broadcasters tend to have the same instincts. Sports networks avoid showing streakers and other attention-seeking, game-interrupting stunts.

Political protests are inherently more newsworthy, however. When environmental activists disrupted a US Open semifinal match in 2023, forcing a long delay in play, ESPN did show some live pictures of the protesters. The live coverage, however, mostly emphasized the impact on the players, in keeping with the network’s focus on sports.

Some Trump antagonists have been publicly hoping for a political protest at the Open final. With tongue firmly in cheek, conservative lawyer George Conway wrote on X, “It would be terrible if he became upset over some chant like ‘WE. WANT. THE EPSTEIN. FILES.’ I earnestly hope and pray this does not happen.”

Trump will arrive in New York in time for the match’s expected start at 2 p.m. ET, according to a White House schedule.

Trump has attended half a dozen major sporting events since the start of his second term in January. He attended the first half of the Super Bowl in February, though he was only seen on camera briefly. Inside the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, there were more cheers than boos when he was shown on the stadium’s video screens.

More recently, when Trump was at the FIFA Club World Cup final in July, he was cheered upon arrival at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, but received some boos when shown on the video screens during the national anthem. There were boos again later when Trump helped carry the competition trophy to the stage, prompting some viral videos of the hostile reception.

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Yoshinobu Yamamoto no-hit bid broken up by Jackson Holliday homer in 9th inning, sparking Orioles walk-off

Published

2 hours ago

September 7, 2025

Kari Anderson

Yoshinobu Yamamoto was this close to getting the first no-hitter of the 2025 MLB season. Instead, the Los Angeles Dodgers blew a 3-0 lead and allowed the Baltimore Orioles to get a gutting walk-off win.

Yamamoto was one out from making history, going hitless through 8.2 innings. But Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday had other plans: The 21-year-old broke up the no-no at the last second, with a solo homer to deep right field in the bottom of the ninth.

Yamamoto, who had racked up 112 pitches, was immediately taken out of the game and replaced by reliever Blake Treinen. He received a standing ovation as he exited.

But Yamamoto couldn’t even record a win on the game. With Treinen on the mound, the Orioles filled the bases, giving Baltimore another run after a walk. Tanner Scott, who replaced Treinen, then blew the save, allowing Emmanuel Rivera to get a walk-off RBI single that sent Jorge Mateo and Gunnar Henderson home.

Even with the homer, Yamamoto had a career night, throwing 10 strikeouts in the outing. He also passed seven innings for the first time in his MLB career, nearly getting his first complete game since joining the Dodgers in 2024.

Prior to allowing Holliday’s homer in the ninth, Los Angeles built up a 3-0 lead behind a Shohei Ohtani RBI single in the third and a pair of RBIs (a single and a triple) from Mookie Betts in the fifth and seventh innings.

In the end, that wasn’t enough, as the Orioles took advantage in the ninth inning to get a dramatic walk-off win.

Though it would have been Yamamoto’s first MLB no-hitter, he’s accomplished the feat twice before in his career: The 27-year-old threw no-hitters in two consecutive seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball, while playing for the Orix Buffaloes.

Instead, the Dodgers will have to contend with their fifth straight loss. After being swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates last week, Los Angeles is in danger of the same thing happening in Baltimore.

Despite a number of close calls, MLB still hasn’t seen its first no-hitter of the year, even as the season reaches September. Texas Rangers ace Jacob DeGrom got close in June, but it was broken up in the eighth; that same month, Cincinnati Reds starter Nick Martinez had his bid dashed in the ninth. The New York Yankees spoiled a no-hit bid from the Seattle Mariners’ Bryan Woo in July, and the New York Mets’ Juan Soto’s ninth-inning homer broke up a near no-hitter from Cleveland Guardians righty Gavin Williams in August. A few weeks ago, the Orioles nearly got a perfect game from rookie Brandon Young that was spoiled in the eighth.

Compare this to last year, where there were four no-hitters, including a combined no-no last September from the Chicago Cubs. For now, the league will just have to keep waiting.

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