Trump fires warning shot at RFK Jr. as vaccine war opens chasm in Republican Party
By Victoria Churchill
Daily Mail
Sep 7, 2025
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. testifies before the Senate Finance Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on September 04, 2025 in Washington, DC
A rift may be growing between President Donald Trump and other prominent players in the GOP.
Trump appears to be at odds with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the importance of vaccines when it comes to public health.
During a press conference in the Oval Office Friday, Trump told reporters that 'you have some vaccines that are so amazing. The polio vaccine, I happen to think is amazing.'
The president also noted that 'you have to be very careful when you say that some people don't have to be vaccinated ... It's a very tough position.'
Senator Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican who was an OBGYN before entering politics, told Margaret Brennan of CBS Sunday that Trump chose Kennedy Jr. 'to be a disruptor to the CDC, and that's exactly what he's doing.'
Marshall also added that in his 'humble opinion, not every person needs every vaccine', before asking not to be labelled as a 'non-vaxxer-person,' because he has 'raised money for polio vaccinations.'
'The MMR is a great vaccine. It saved thousands of lives. Vaccines, overall, have saved hundreds of millions of lives, but not every person needs every vaccine. And we just want to empower parents and the doctors to make great decisions,' Marshall added.
Still, Kennedy has been labeled as an anti-vaxxer and was accused of 'effectively ... denying people vaccines' during a hearing before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Thursday.
President Donald Trump speaks to the media during a press availability in the Oval Office of the White House on September 5, 2025 in Washington
Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy, a former physician who chairs the Senate's health committee, also took time Thursday to call out Kennedy for his differences with Trump on the issue of vaccines.
Cassidy asked Kennedy if Trump should get a Nobel Prize for his work in pushing for the development of the COVID vaccine during the pandemic in the effort more broadly known as Operation Warp Speed.
Kennedy replied that Trump should get the award, despite arguing during the course of of presidential campaign last year that his then-opponent and current boss 'has a weakness for swamp creatures, especially corporate monopolies, their lobbyists, and their money' calling Operation Warp Speed one of the most devastating instances 'of President Trump’s weakness, but not the only one.'
This weeks' developments on the issues of public health were also not limited just to Washington, D.C.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced last week a plan to remove the state's vaccine schedule mandates, despite a full repeal needing to be passed by the state legislature.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-LA, questions Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., during a Senate Committee on Finance hearing on President Donald Trump's health care agenda at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Thursday, September 4, 2025
In a contentious confirmation hearing to become the nation’s top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. struggled to answer questions about Medicare and Medicaid, programs that affect tens of millions of Americans, January 29, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump embraces Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after Kennedy was sworn in as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Oval Office at the White House on February 13, 2025 in Washington, DC
Trump also sought to distance himself from the Sunshine State's vaccine plans.
'You have vaccines that work. They just pure and simple work,' Trump also noted in the Oval Office.
'They’re not controversial at all. And I think those vaccines should be used, otherwise some people are going to catch it, and they endanger other people. And when you don’t have controversy at all, I think people should take it,' he stated.
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