Two candidates to lead major public health positions in the U.S. were questioned by senators Wednesday on whether they share the same views on vaccines as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Dr. Erica Schwartz was nominated to be the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sean Kaufman was nominated to lead the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response.

Schwartz, who served as deputy surgeon general during the first Trump administration, has generally supported vaccines. Kaufman has expressed skepticism on COVID-19 vaccines and hepatitis B vaccines for children, the Washington Examiner reported.

Susan Monarez, the previous CDC nominee, was fired by Kennedy after she said she refused to approve in advance decisions from Kennedy's vaccine advisers on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. 

"I don't think the secretary or the president would do what you just said, but you have my commitment to follow the science wherever the science may lead," Schwartz said in her testimony, but declined to answer hypothetical questions, prompting a rebuke from Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.

"If you don't know Kennedy asked Monarez to approve ACIP recommendations, then they didn't prep you on that because that's public knowledge," he said.

"Now he may dispute it, but that's public knowledge, and to claim that's a theoretical, that does a disservice to you."

At the hearing, Kaufman said he supported vaccines as a public health measure and that his children had received the infant dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.

Kaufman said those who reported complications after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine should be "recognized, treated with compassion, and acknowledged."

"Many, many, many millions and millions of people around the world took those vaccines and did not suffer, but I cannot sit here and forget the ones that did," Kaufman said. 

Cassidy asked Kaufman about a previous statement in which he said he "hated the CDC." Kaufman said the remark was taken out of context and referred to the agency's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"And at that time of heightened sensitivity, I did not agree with what CDC leadership was doing," Kaufman said. "The CDC workforce has always been the most dedicated workforce I have ever seen."