“Facing hostile questions from senators in both parties, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dug in Thursday on some of his most controversial actions since taking office in February, fiercely interrupting senators on both sides to push back on their onslaught,” Punchbowl News reports.

“Eleven of the 13 Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee called for Kennedy to resign or be fired before the hearing even began, a very clear signal about how contentious the session was going to be. And it then lived up to that preview, with Kennedy and numerous senators getting into angry exchanges…”

“Yet Kennedy continued to push conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 vaccine, spurring sharp criticism from even Republican senators.”

“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Thursday that former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Susan Monarez lied to Americans when she said she was fired for refusing to endorse vaccine recommendations not supported by science,” Axios reports.

“Kennedy’s public rebuke will likely cause additional turmoil at the CDC.”

Said Monarez, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed: “The CDC can’t fulfill its obligation to the American people if its leader can’t demand proof in decision-making. That isn’t reform. It is sabotage.”

Tom Bartlett: “The health secretary is showing this week what he’s willing to do with his power.”

A new CBS News poll finds 74% of Americans think the federal government should make vaccines more available, while only 4% say they should be made less available.

Hanna Rosin: “This fall, when vaccine season comes around, everything might seem like business as usual. Vaccine schedules for kids are more or less intact, and the new flu and Covid vaccines are both scheduled to be released in time for the expected winter surge.”

“The Trump administration hasn’t had much of a visible effect on vaccines as the shots currently exist. What’s being systematically dismantled is the infrastructure that creates, tracks, and facilitates the distribution of vaccines as we’ve come to know and rely on them.”