WATCH: Sen. Cassidy asks RFK Jr. how he can support Nobel for Trump COVID program but not back the vaccines

Sen. 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.

WATCH: RFK Jr. testifies on Trump’s health care agenda before the Senate Finance Committee

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.