Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. clashed during a Senate Finance hearing after Kennedy agreed that President Donald Trump deserves a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed during the COVID-19 pandemic while also claiming the COVID-19 vaccine was deadly.
During his first administration, Trump announced Operation Warp Speed, the partnership initiated by the federal government to facilitate and accelerate the development, manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and medical treatments.
Kennedy was quick to praise Trump for this—despite being the most prominent anti-vaxxer in the country and using his government office to promoting conspiracy theories about vaccines and their development.
Cassidy asked:
“Mr. Secretary, do you agree with me… that the president deserves a Nobel prize for Operation Warp Speed?”
After Kennedy responded, "Yes, absolutely, Senator," Cassidy said:
“Let me ask you, but you just told Senator [Michael] Bennet that the COVID-19 vaccine killed more people than COVID."
After Kennedy insisted he "did not say that," Cassidy vowed to check the record. It's worth noting that earlier, when questioned by Bennet, Kennedy said he believed that the COVID-19 vaccines killed people though he did not actually cite any data or provide numbers or any specifics, only—vaguely—blaming "data chaos."
But Cassidy, who trained as a physician before entering Congress, pointed out Kennedy's hypocrisy:
“As lead attorney for the Children’s Health Defense, you engaged in multiple lawsuits attempting to restrict access to the COVID vaccine. It surprises me that you think so highly of Operation Warp Speed when as an attorney, you attempted to restrict access to the COVID vaccine.”
You can watch their exchange in the video below.
Kennedy was criticized after footage of the exchange went viral.
Funnily enough, though Trump and his surrogates have openly angled for him to get a Nobel Peace Prize—a laugh considering recent bombings of both Iran and a Venezuelan vessel Trump claimed was transporting illegal narcotics bound for the U.S.—Trump's own words about vaccines would disqualify him.
While Trump has in the past claimed his administration deserved full credit for vaccine development and distribution as part of Operation Warp Speed, he later said that vaccine booster shots are nothing more than a "money-making operation."
Trump's remarks, made in response to the Biden administration's vaccination campaign, ignored that the necessity for booster shots was based on evolving data that shows signs of waning immunity over time.
