Both Republicans and Democrats clash with RFK Jr. on vaccines, CDC turmoil

Congressional Democrats who are not on the Senate panel continued their calls for Kennedy to resign or be fired.

"I hope that my Republican colleagues, especially those who believed RFK Jr. would follow the science, admit that they were wrong and join us to protect our constituents," Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin said at a news conference.

Democratic Sen. Angela Alsobrooks called Kennedy a "clear and present danger to the American people."

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, had a heated exchange with Kennedy over how many Americans died from COVID-19.

"Do you accept the fact that a million Americans died from COVID?" Warner asked.

"I don't know how many died," Kennedy replied.

"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, because there was so much chaos coming out of the CDC," Kennedy continued.

Data on the CDC’s website, which is publicly available, shows that at least 1,231,440 deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported in the U.S. since 2020.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a longtime physician whose vote was critical in Kennedy's ascension to HHS secretary, read out emails he received from people who say they've had difficulty accessing vaccines. Cassidy submitted the emails to the record.

"I would say, effectively, we're denying people vaccines," Cassidy said as he ended his questioning of Kennedy.

Kennedy responded, "You're wrong."

Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell picked up the questioning from Cassidy and continued to scrutinize Kennedy's stance and actions concerning vaccines.

The Washington senator brought up a chart showing the number of deaths following the introduction of vaccines since the 20th century.

"You're a charlatan. That's what you are. You're the ones who conflate chronic disease with the need for vaccines," she said.

"You are perpetrating hoaxes," Cantwell later added.