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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt). stole the show during the U.S. Senate confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominated for secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), when questions about Kennedy’s stance on vaccines turned into a referendum on onesies.
During the hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, Sanders questioned Kennedy, founder and former chairman of Children’s Health Defense (CHD), about onesies imprinted with “Unvaxxed, Unafraid” and “No Vax, No Problem” sold on the CHD website.
Sanders asked Kennedy, who resigned as CHD’s chairman in December 2024, if he would ask CHD to stop selling the onesies.
I’ve officially seen it all.
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 29, 2025
Bernie Sanders is throwing a TANTRUM over baby onesies at RFK Jr.’s confirmation hearing.
"ARE YOU SUPPORTIVE OF THESE ONESIES?”
pic.twitter.com/iNkpwH2ovA
“I have no power over that organization. I’m not part of it. I resigned from the board,” Kennedy said, adding that while he supports vaccines, he also wants “good science.”
Mainstream media ran wild with the onesies, with headlines like “RFK Jr. and the case of the onesies.”
The exchange between Kennedy and Sanders was characteristic of the often contentious nature of the nearly four-hour hearing, during which Kennedy was also asked to discuss his views on the chronic disease epidemic, support for scientific research, abortion and other public health issues.
Kennedy called the chronic disease epidemic “an existential threat” to the U.S. and said President Donald Trump has made this issue a priority for his administration.
The Chronic Disease Epidemic pic.twitter.com/emafCVNpr7
— Children’s Health Defense (@ChildrensHD) January 29, 2025
“Our ship is sinking … We have the highest chronic disease burden of any country in the world,” Kennedy said. He promised to restore “radical transparency” and a “gold standard of scientific review” to HHS if he is confirmed.
‘A healthy person has a thousand dreams. A sick person has only one.’
Kennedy focused a significant portion of his opening statement and many of his responses to questions from senators on what he says are the factors contributing to the chronic disease epidemic and his plans to address the issue.
Kennedy cited statistics showing sharp increases in cancer, diabetes, neurodevelopmental disorders, autoimmune diseases and other conditions since the 1960s. He said the increased prevalence of these chronic conditions has been costly not just to Americans’ health, but to the U.S. economy.
🚨 The Cost of Poor Health 🚨@RobertKennedyJr: The United States has worse health than any other developed nation, yet we spend more on health care at least double and in some cases triple, as other countries... It's tantamount to a 20% tax on the entire economy." pic.twitter.com/WFSeOGGArX
— Children’s Health Defense (@ChildrensHD) January 29, 2025
“The United States has worse health than any other developed nation, yet we spend more on healthcare,” Kennedy said. “Last year we spent $4.8 trillion not counting the indirect costs of missed work. That’s almost one-fifth of GDP. It’s tantamount to a 20% tax on the entire economy.”
Kennedy said that more than half of Americans today are chronically ill, calling this a “human tragedy” that is “writing off an entire generation of kids.”
"A healthy person has a thousand dreams, a sick person has only one." @RobertKennedyJr pic.twitter.com/JyrhRQCvbe
— Children’s Health Defense (@ChildrensHD) January 29, 2025
According to Kennedy, a factor responsible for the increase in chronic diseases is the “switch to highly chemical-intensive processed foods” and the “preoccupation” of public health agencies with infectious disease, at the expense of chronic disease.
According to Kennedy, this is the case even though chronic disease is responsible for 92% of deaths in the U.S. and is the result of a “deliberate choice not to study the things that are truly making us sick.”
Kennedy cited processed foods as an example, noting that while over 10,000 ingredients are permitted in products in the U.S. today, only 400 ingredients are permitted in Europe. Kennedy pledged his support for healthy foods and the removal of harmful additives from the food supply.
“We can’t be a strong nation when our people are so sick,” Kennedy said. “A healthy person has a thousand dreams. A sick person has only one.”
"We will make sure our tax dollars support healthy foods. We will scrutinize the chemical additives in our food supply. We will remove financial conflicts of interest from our agencies. We will create an honest, unbiased, gold standard science at HHS ... We will reverse the… pic.twitter.com/kCNRA27vBq
— Children’s Health Defense (@ChildrensHD) January 29, 2025
Pledge for ‘radical transparency’ on drug harms, adverse events
Kennedy said he would work to address the chronic health epidemic and other public health issues by bringing “radical transparency” to HHS to help restore public trust. He cited a lack of disclosure regarding drug- and vaccine-related adverse events to support his call for increased transparency.
🗓️ 2025: The Year of Radical Transparency
— Children’s Health Defense (@ChildrensHD) January 29, 2025
"The reason people don't trust the public health agencies is because they haven't been trustworthy." @RobertKennedyJr
Will you trust them if Bobby is confirmed as secretary of HHS? pic.twitter.com/8C1kzjWTeV
“It’s against everything we believe in this country that patients or doctors should not be reporting adverse events,” Kennedy said. “We need to know what adverse events are. We need to understand the safety of every drug.”
Kennedy said doctors and patients are often discouraged from reporting adverse events, and said this needs to change.
“I think it’s immoral to have a policy where patients are not allowed to report adverse events or doctors are discouraged from doing that,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy calls for ‘good science’ related to vaccines
Kennedy fielded several questions regarding his stance on vaccines, during which he said he is not an “anti-vaxxer” but supports further research on vaccine safety.
“I support vaccines. I support the childhood schedule. The only thing I want is good science,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy said that while Operation Warp Speed under the first Trump administration led to the development of COVID-19 vaccines, it also pursued other therapeutics, such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. He said he opposed the mask and vaccine mandates that the Biden administration implemented.
Kennedy said he would focus on restoring public health agencies to a “gold standard” of scientific review and ensure that scientists can perform “unobstructed” research without outside influence.
It's time to return public health agencies to the gold standard of scientific review. Who wouldn't want this? pic.twitter.com/PbXFnTlFJo
— Children’s Health Defense (@ChildrensHD) January 29, 2025
“I’m not scared of vested interests,” Kennedy said. “I’m not here because I want a position or a job … I want to do this because we’re going to fix it.”
Kennedy said the term “conspiracy theorist” is “a pejorative that’s applied to me to keep me from asking difficult questions about powerful interests.”
‘We will bring together all stakeholders in pursuit of this unifying goal’
Kennedy struck a tone of unity, stressing the need to “put aside our divisions for the sake of a healthy America.”
“We will bring together all stakeholders in pursuit of this unifying goal,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy’s call for unity appears to have resonated with some members of the committee. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said there is a “need to find the root cause of all these problems facing this nation … but even more, we need to heal and unify this divided nation.”
Sen. Ron Johnson supports @RobertKennedyJr as HHS Secretary to Unify + Heal America 👏
— Children’s Health Defense (@ChildrensHD) January 29, 2025
Who's with him? pic.twitter.com/5ST6AnV6na
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), chairman of the committee, said Kennedy “deserves to be confirmed,” noting that “Our current system has fallen short.”
According to NBC News, no Republican senators have publicly opposed Kennedy, who is scheduled to appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday for further testimony.
The committees will vote whether to send Kennedy to the full Senate for confirmation. If confirmed, Kennedy will lead a department that oversees 13 public health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health.
“© [2025] Children’s Health Defense, Inc. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of Children’s Health Defense, Inc. Want to learn more from Children’s Health Defense? Sign up for free news and updates from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Children’s Health Defense. Your donation will help to support us in our efforts.
