WATCH: Senator asks RFK Jr. how he can support Nobel for Trump COVID program but not back the shots
September 4, 2025
37,628
128
0.34%
Search the Record
IndexedEvery word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
Amna Nawaz Episodes Around September 4, 2025
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
7:00WATCH: Sen. Young questions RFK Jr. on vaccines, Trump health care agenda
3:09Now PlayingWATCH: Senator asks RFK Jr. how he can support Nobel for Trump COVID program but not back the shots
YouTube Description
as posted by the channelSen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., asked HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday if he agreed that President Donald Trump deserved a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed, the 2020 initiative that quickly developed COVID vaccines.
“Absolutely, senator,” the health secretary said.
Cassidy said it surprised him that Kennedy would think so highly of Operation Warp Speed when the health secretary has attempted to restrict access to the vaccines and cancelled funding for mRNA vaccine research that was critical to the initiative’s mission.
Kennedy said Operation Warp Speed was “genius.”
“It got the vaccine to market that was perfectly matched to the virus at that time, when it was badly needed because there was low natural immunity and/or people getting very badly injured by COVID,” he said of the initiative.
Kennedy appeared before the Senate Committee on Finance a day after more than 20 medical societies and organizations called for his resignation. They cited “repeated efforts to undermine science and public health,” most recently the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez over vaccine science and the resulting resignations of other leaders at the organization.
During his tenure, the health secretary and former anti-vaccine advocate has narrowed long-standing U.S. vaccine recommendations. He’s also replaced a key panel of medical experts with his hand-picked candidates ahead of the start of the respiratory virus season in the United States.
Newsletters
PBS News podcasts
Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app
Find more from PBS News at
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Guests & Subjects Covered
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.