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

As Kennedy testifies in front of senators on major vaccine changes at HHS, polls show most Americans support vaccine requirements.

Most U.S. adults -- 79% -- say parents should be required to have children vaccinated against diseases like measles, mumps and rubella to attend school, according to a June poll from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

That figure includes 72% of all parents, 90% of Democrats and 68% of Republicans surveyed.

Additionally, 81% of parents across all political backgrounds said they believe public schools should require measles and polio vaccines for students, allowing for some health and religious exceptions, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation and Washington Post poll of parents and guardians of children under 18 years old surveyed in July and August.

What’s more, a Reuters/Ipsos poll from August found that 55% of Americans say the country's public health is going in the wrong track, with 29% saying it's going in the right direction.

-ABC News' Dan Merkle, Oren Oppenheim and Benjamin Siegel

Kennedy, in an exchange with Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, said there are "no cuts to Medicaid" in the sweeping Trump spending cut and tax bill.

"That is absurd," Warner responded.

The megabill passed by Republicans in Congress in early July includes $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and Medicare spending. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the law will result in 10 million Americans losing health insurance over the next decade, with more than 7 million people expected to lose Medicaid coverage.

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.