Democrats and Republicans have pushed US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy's Jr on his recent vaccine policies and their stark contrast to President Donald Trump's successful first-term pandemic initiative to speed vaccine development during a combative three-hour Senate hearing.

Half a dozen heated exchanges focused on the details of his decision to fire Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Susan Monarez, who had started the job with Kennedy's support only a month earlier.

Kennedy said she was dishonest about the reason she was dismissed.

Republican US senator Bill Cassidy praised Trump for having accelerated the development, manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in 2020.

His line of questioning - mirrored by two other members of his and Trump's party - un

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