By — PolitiFact staff PolitiFact staff Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/4-fact-checks-from-robert-f-kennedy-jr-s-senate-testimony-over-covid-19-vaccines-cdc Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter 4 fact-checks from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Senate testimony over COVID-19 vaccines, CDC Health Sep 5, 2025 12:12 PM EDT This article originally appeared on PolitiFact. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sparred with U.S. senators over his management of health agencies and past comments about COVID-19 vaccines and antidepressants. At several points during the hourslong Senate Finance Committee hearing, Kennedy said senators were making up information or distorting his record. WATCH: Examining RFK Jr.’s claims about vaccines, COVID and the health of Americans “You are being dishonest right now,” he told Democrat Sen. Tina Smith after she said he had blamed antidepressants on a recent school shooting in her home state of Minnesota. When Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy from Louisiana said the government was “effectively” denying people vaccines, Kennedy retorted, “You’re wrong.” “You’re just making stuff up to scare people, and it’s a lie,” he said to Sen. Maggie Hassan, a New Hampshire Democrat who said Kennedy was limiting access to COVID-19 vaccines. READ MORE: 4 major moments from RFK Jr.’s contentious hearing with senators PolitiFact fact-checked some of the most notable back-and-forth moments from Kennedy’s testimony. How many Americans died from COVID? Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., asked Kennedy whether he accepts that “a million Americans died from COVID.” “I don’t know how many died,” Kennedy said. READ MORE: Fact-checking RFK Jr.’s claim that ‘everybody can get’ the COVID-19 vaccine “You’re the secretary of Health and Human Services,” Warner said. “You don’t have any idea how many Americans died from COVID?”” “I don’t think anybody knows that because there was so much data chaos coming out of the CDC,” Kennedy said. Over 1 million Americans have died from COVID-19, according to multiple statistical estimates. Many patients who died had comorbidities, including hypertension, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Researchers say that identifying causal relationships between comorbidities and outcomes in COVID-19 is methodologically difficult. Kennedy changes tune on 2020 COVID vaccine initiative Cassidy asked Kennedy if he agreed that President Donald Trump deserves a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed, Trump’s 2020 initiative that resulted in the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines. “Absolutely,” Kennedy said. Cassidy said Kennedy’s support surprised him, because of Kennedy’s COVID-19 vaccine criticisms and actions. Kennedy canceled funding for mRNA vaccine research, the science that led to the rapid development of the vaccine. WATCH: Sen. Cassidy asks RFK Jr. how he can support Nobel for Trump COVID program but not back the vaccines In 2021, Kennedy falsely said the COVID-19 vaccine was the “deadliest vaccine ever made.” In the Sept. 4 hearing, Kennedy said that Operation Warp Speed was “genius” because it “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.” “Everybody” can’t get COVID-19 vaccines Hassan said Kennedy was limiting people’s access to the COVID-19 vaccine. “People who want to exercise their freedom of choice are being denied that because you are citing data that you won’t produce to the public,” Hassan said. Kennedy pushed back. READ MORE: Can you get a COVID shot? Here’s your fall vaccine guide “Everybody can get the vaccine,” Kennedy said. “You’re just making things up to scare people, and it’s a lie.” The Food and Drug Administration has limited the groups of people who are approved to get the most updated COVID-19 vaccine. Anyone age 65 and older and any person 6 months and older who has at least one underlying health condition that increases their risk of severe COVID-19 infection are approved to get the 2025-26 COVID-19 vaccine, according to Aug. 27 guidance. People who don’t fit into those categories aren’t banned from getting a COVID-19 vaccine. But getting one might require doctors to prescribe the vaccine “off-label,” making the process more challenging and potentially more costly. Kennedy’s unsupported tie of violent crime, antidepressants Smith said Kennedy blamed school shootings on antidepressants after the Aug. 27 shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis that killed two children and injured 21 people. Kennedy said Smith was “just making stuff up” and he had not said that. During an Aug. 28 interview, a “Fox & Friends” host asked Kennedy if the government was investigating whether gender dysphoria medications play a role in violent crimes. Robin Westman, the 23-year-old who fired through the windows of the Minneapolis church during a morning Mass, was assigned male at birth and later changed names to reflect a female identity. READ MORE: Minnesota Gov. Walz to call special session on gun laws after school shooting Kennedy said that the Health and Human Services Department is “launching studies on the potential contribution of some of the SSRI drugs and some of the other psychiatric drugs that might be contributing to violence.” Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are a class of antidepressant. Kennedy previously has linked antidepressants to violent crime. Psychiatry experts have told PolitiFact and other fact-checkers there isn’t a causal relationship between antidepressants and shootings. About 11% of the nation’s adult population uses antidepressants, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts say if there were a link between violence and the medications, they would expect higher rates of violence. We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now By — PolitiFact staff PolitiFact staff
This article originally appeared on PolitiFact. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sparred with U.S. senators over his management of health agencies and past comments about COVID-19 vaccines and antidepressants. At several points during the hourslong Senate Finance Committee hearing, Kennedy said senators were making up information or distorting his record. WATCH: Examining RFK Jr.’s claims about vaccines, COVID and the health of Americans “You are being dishonest right now,” he told Democrat Sen. Tina Smith after she said he had blamed antidepressants on a recent school shooting in her home state of Minnesota. When Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy from Louisiana said the government was “effectively” denying people vaccines, Kennedy retorted, “You’re wrong.” “You’re just making stuff up to scare people, and it’s a lie,” he said to Sen. Maggie Hassan, a New Hampshire Democrat who said Kennedy was limiting access to COVID-19 vaccines. READ MORE: 4 major moments from RFK Jr.’s contentious hearing with senators PolitiFact fact-checked some of the most notable back-and-forth moments from Kennedy’s testimony. How many Americans died from COVID? Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., asked Kennedy whether he accepts that “a million Americans died from COVID.” “I don’t know how many died,” Kennedy said. READ MORE: Fact-checking RFK Jr.’s claim that ‘everybody can get’ the COVID-19 vaccine “You’re the secretary of Health and Human Services,” Warner said. “You don’t have any idea how many Americans died from COVID?”” “I don’t think anybody knows that because there was so much data chaos coming out of the CDC,” Kennedy said. Over 1 million Americans have died from COVID-19, according to multiple statistical estimates. Many patients who died had comorbidities, including hypertension, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Researchers say that identifying causal relationships between comorbidities and outcomes in COVID-19 is methodologically difficult. Kennedy changes tune on 2020 COVID vaccine initiative Cassidy asked Kennedy if he agreed that President Donald Trump deserves a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed, Trump’s 2020 initiative that resulted in the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines. “Absolutely,” Kennedy said. Cassidy said Kennedy’s support surprised him, because of Kennedy’s COVID-19 vaccine criticisms and actions. Kennedy canceled funding for mRNA vaccine research, the science that led to the rapid development of the vaccine. WATCH: Sen. Cassidy asks RFK Jr. how he can support Nobel for Trump COVID program but not back the vaccines In 2021, Kennedy falsely said the COVID-19 vaccine was the “deadliest vaccine ever made.” In the Sept. 4 hearing, Kennedy said that Operation Warp Speed was “genius” because it “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.” “Everybody” can’t get COVID-19 vaccines Hassan said Kennedy was limiting people’s access to the COVID-19 vaccine. “People who want to exercise their freedom of choice are being denied that because you are citing data that you won’t produce to the public,” Hassan said. Kennedy pushed back. READ MORE: Can you get a COVID shot? Here’s your fall vaccine guide “Everybody can get the vaccine,” Kennedy said. “You’re just making things up to scare people, and it’s a lie.” The Food and Drug Administration has limited the groups of people who are approved to get the most updated COVID-19 vaccine. Anyone age 65 and older and any person 6 months and older who has at least one underlying health condition that increases their risk of severe COVID-19 infection are approved to get the 2025-26 COVID-19 vaccine, according to Aug. 27 guidance. People who don’t fit into those categories aren’t banned from getting a COVID-19 vaccine. But getting one might require doctors to prescribe the vaccine “off-label,” making the process more challenging and potentially more costly. Kennedy’s unsupported tie of violent crime, antidepressants Smith said Kennedy blamed school shootings on antidepressants after the Aug. 27 shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis that killed two children and injured 21 people. Kennedy said Smith was “just making stuff up” and he had not said that. During an Aug. 28 interview, a “Fox & Friends” host asked Kennedy if the government was investigating whether gender dysphoria medications play a role in violent crimes. Robin Westman, the 23-year-old who fired through the windows of the Minneapolis church during a morning Mass, was assigned male at birth and later changed names to reflect a female identity. READ MORE: Minnesota Gov. Walz to call special session on gun laws after school shooting Kennedy said that the Health and Human Services Department is “launching studies on the potential contribution of some of the SSRI drugs and some of the other psychiatric drugs that might be contributing to violence.” Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are a class of antidepressant. Kennedy previously has linked antidepressants to violent crime. Psychiatry experts have told PolitiFact and other fact-checkers there isn’t a causal relationship between antidepressants and shootings. About 11% of the nation’s adult population uses antidepressants, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts say if there were a link between violence and the medications, they would expect higher rates of violence. We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now