WASHINGTON (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was pressed to clarify his views on vaccines, abortion and public health priorities in the first of two Senate hearings as he tries to make the case to become President Donald Trump’s health secretary.

Kennedy is seeking to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, the $1.7 trillion agency that funds medical research, public health outreach, food and drug safety, hospital oversight, funding for community health care clinics as well as Medicare and Medicaid.

Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee expressed hope Kennedy could help reduce chronic diseases and health care costs. Democrats repeatedly used quotes and transcripts from his books and public appearances to pin him down on several issues, especially vaccines and abortion.

Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, argued that “from abortion to universal health care, Mr. Kennedy has changed his views so often it’s nearly impossible to know where he stands.”

On Thursday Kennedy will appear before the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee.

Some takeaways from Wednesday’s hearing:

Senators wanted to know: Where does Kennedy stand on vaccines now?

Kennedy insisted he’s not opposed to vaccines despite a long history of calling them dangerous – and Democrats weren’t buying it.

“Frankly you frighten people,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

“I am not anti-vaccine,” Kennedy told the committee. He also said, “I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine. I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking either of those vaccines."

But before he was nominated, Kennedy sought to discredit vaccines. He has said “ COVID shots are a crime against humanity,” told FOX News he still believes in the debunked idea that vaccines can cause autism, and urged people in 2021 to “resist” CDC guidelines on when kids should get vaccines.

And during the hearing Kennedy said that “most experts agree” that 6-year-olds shouldn’t get COVID-19 vaccines because they’re not at risk. That's not true of the experts who set vaccine policy: The Food and Drug Administration authorized COVID-19 shots for children as young as age 6 months and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends children get vaccinated.

“Most experts agree that COVID vaccines are safe and effective for children," Dr. James Campbell of the American Academy of Pediatrics said after hearing Kennedy's remark.

Sen. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat from New Hampshire, grilled Kennedy about changing his position.

"There is no reason that any of us should believe that you have reversed the anti-vaccine views that you have promoted for 25 years,” she said.

Kennedy was pressed on his shifting views on abortion

Kennedy's nomination has been met with criticism from both abortion rights advocates and anti-abortion forces as his stance seemed to have shifted.

During the hearing, several Democrats pushed Kennedy about changing his views to better appeal to Trump.

“I’ve never seen any major politician flip on that issue quite as quickly as you did when Trump asked you to be HHS secretary,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, questioned Kennedy’s shifting views on abortion by quoting his previous statements that abortion should be left up to the pregnant woman, not the government.

Hassan said she was confused: “You have clearly stated in the past that bodily autonomy is one of your core values. The question is: Do you stand for this value or not?

Kennedy repeatedly leaned on the phrase: “I have always believed abortion is a tragedy" — including during questioning from Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma.

Republicans expressed hope Kennedy could fix a troubled health care system

In his opening remarks, Idaho Senator Mike Crapo, the Finance committee's chairman, praised Kennedy's “commitment to combatting chronic conditions" and said prioritizing disease prevention “ will save lives, reduce costs and build a healthier, stronger country.”

Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who was vocal in criticizing vaccine requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic, brought up a conversation he had with Kennedy when the former Democrat was considering joining forces with Trump. The senator called it an answer to his prayers.

“We need to heal and unify this divided nation,” Johnson said. “Can’t we come together as a nation and do this?”

Kennedy repeatedly called for “more research” on long-established therapies

Again and again on Wednesday, Kennedy suggested he simply wants to do more research on vaccines, drugs and other products that have already been vigorously studied by government and independent scientists.

Kennedy said that Trump asked him to study the safety of mifepristone, the abortion pill that has been used more than 6 million times in the U.S. to terminate pregnancies.

The FDA approved the drug in 2000 after a four-year review and has repeatedly reaffirmed its safety after reviewing dozens of studies in tens of thousands of women.

“Here are the safety studies that tell us mifepristone is safe and effective,” Hassan said, brandishing a pile of what she said were 40 of them.

Kennedy again called for additional research when questioned about his unsupported claims that increased school shootings could be related to higher prescribing of antidepressants.

Kennedy said his remarks were misrepresented and that he was suggesting antidepressants might play a role among other factors, such as social media.

“I don’t think anyone can answer that question right now” Kennedy said.

Antidepressants and other prescription drugs are subject to multiple, large clinical trials that evaluate their safety and efficacy before they are approved. Additionally, the FDA has multiple systems for monitoring emerging side effects with drugs after they are on the market and regularly issues updates and alerts to address risks.

On Alzheimer’s, Kennedy also misstated the state of the science and research.

A sticky gunk called amyloid plays a role in Alzheimer’s disease but Kennedy wrongly claimed the National Institutes of Health ignores any other potential culprits.

“The NIH shut down studies of any other hypothesis,” Kennedy said.

But the NIH’s $3.8 billion budget for Alzheimer’s and similar dementias includes researching a range of other factors that may underlie how Alzheimer’s develops.

Senators used Kennedy's own words against him

Reading from podcast transcripts and his own writings, Bennet asked Kennedy about his prior statement that COVID-19 was engineered to target white and Black people while sparing Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.

Kennedy denied saying it was “deliberately targeted.”

Bennet also asked Kennedy about a claim that Lyme disease is “likely a militarily engineered bioweapon.”

“I probably did say that,” Kennedy responded.

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Associated Press writer Amanda Seitz contributed to this report.

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