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RFK Jr. under fire following vaccine changes and CDC shakeup

NPR

By Ashley Lopez,

Selena Simmons-Duffin, Mara Liasson

Published September 10, 2025 at 9:52 AM EDT

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appears before the Senate Finance Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Sept. 4, 2025.

Senators in both parties had harsh words for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a recent hearing. We discuss the health and political implications of the latest controversy surrounding the secretary and the agencies he leads.

This episode: political correspondent Ashley Lopez, health correspondent Selena Simmons-Duffin, and senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson.

This podcast was produced by Casey Morell & Bria Suggs, and edited by Rachel Baye.

Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

Listen to every episode of the NPR Politics Podcast sponsor-free, unlock access to bonus episodes with more from the NPR Politics team, and support public media when you sign up for The NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org/politics.

Copyright 2025 NPR

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Ashley Lopez

Ashley Lopez is a political correspondent for NPR based in Austin, Texas. She joined NPR in May 2022. Prior to NPR, Lopez spent more than six years as a health care and politics reporter for KUT, Austin's public radio station. Before that, she was a political reporter for NPR Member stations in Florida and Kentucky. Lopez is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and grew up in Miami, Florida.

Selena Simmons-Duffin

Selena Simmons-Duffin reports on health policy for NPR.

See stories by Selena Simmons-Duffin

Mara Liasson

Mara Liasson is a national political correspondent for NPR. Her reports can be heard regularly on NPR's award-winning newsmagazine programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Liasson provides extensive coverage of politics and policy from Washington, DC — focusing on the White House and Congress — and also reports on political trends beyond the Beltway.

See stories by Mara Liasson

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