Transcription: Senator Roger Marshall in

The next is the transcription of an interview with Senator Roger Marshall, Republican of Kansas, which was broadcast on “Fac The Nation with Margaret Brennan” on September 7, 2025.

Margaret Brennan: Welcome again to face the nation. Now we go to the Republican Senator Roger Marshall, who joins us this morning from Wichita, Kansas. Welcome to face the nation.

Senator Roger Marshall: Margaret, great to be with you. I know it will be a great discussion.

Margaret Brennan: I know you were an OB gynec in practice for decades before running for a position. Last week, the secretary of the HHS underwent an intense interrogation of Democratic legislators and some of his republican companions, who were also doctors. Listen.

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Senator John Barraso: Kennedy secretary, at his confirmation hearing, promised to keep the highest standards for vaccines. Since then, I have worried deeply.

Senator Bill Cassidy: I ​​would say that, indeed, we are denying vaccines.

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Margaret Brennan: That is the Republican whip, and that is the president of the Committee, Bill Cassidy. Why do you think they are out of the base and are worried?

Sen. Marshall: Look, President Trump chose Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be a CDC switch, and that is exactly what he is doing. He has focused on making CDC more transparent, so that it is more reliable at this time. At this time, Americans do not trust the CDCs, so that place is literally turning. I respect what my colleagues say, but I think, you know, all this problem today, or at that meeting, it was about vaccines. In my humble opinion, not all people need all vaccines. And I don’t think there are many children who need 76 blows for when they are old enough to vote. But before labeling myself as a person who is not Vaxxer, look, I have raised money for polio vaccines. MMR is a great vaccine. He saved thousands of lives. Vaccines, in general, have saved hundreds of millions of lives, but not all people need all vaccines. And we just want to empower parents and doctors to make great decisions.

Margaret Brennan: Okay, I just want to unpack some things you said there, and alone, because we want to be very careful in this very heated environment. When you say you have a problem to trust the CDC, a few weeks ago, a gunman entered the CDC campus in Atlanta and fired the place. Do you mind responding to that? And do you think we must be careful when we are discussing the CDC and public health officials at this time?

Sen. Marshall: Well, look, of course, condemn that shot. But the lack of confidence in the CDC dates back to what the CDC did during Covid. We were mistaken, perhaps they even lied to us about the origins of Covid, and how to treat it too. And the vaccine, they promised what the vaccine could also do. So that’s where distrust is. And now, Bobby Kennedy is there, trying to clean that distrust and trying to give American information, the correct information, transparent information, to make good decisions.

Margaret Brennan: Okay, just before talking about other vaccines, Covid specific, and what you just said with the CDC; It was, the pandemic was during the Trump administration. It began during the Trump administration, and the speed of the WARP operation was a Trump presidential directive, that some of his republican companions say that he deserves the Nobel Prize because he stopped the pandemic. So, do you trust the speed of the CDC and the Warp operation under President Trump, or is he saying that he does not believe that the president deserves the prize for that shot?

Sen. Marshall: Look, President Trump absolutely deserves the Nobel Prize. That vaccine saved millions of lives –

Margaret Brennan: – Okay, but you just said something that sounded very contradictory to that. –

Sen. Marshall: I do not agree. I think it’s such a different moment today than five years ago. Five years ago, we had a new virus. None of us had immunity. It was a strange virus in a laboratory in Wuhan, China. But today, on average, Americans have had Covid five times. Now we have natural immunity, and not everyone needs the vaccine. So, both can be true, and that is why, when you have people who do not understand science, who do not understand medicine, why they don’t understand it. It was a different day that is today.

Margaret Brennan: Okay, but people understand that when they enter their pharmacy and have trouble getting a chance. Because in many states, they are now told that they need to return and obtain a recipe, that the effect, here, of Kennedy’s policies hinder it, even if they fall into categories where they should be able to shoot. Would you recognize that?

Sen. Marshall: Yes. Yes, I think you’re doing this way, too complicated. ESO: Look, vaccines are a medicine, and just as you need a recipe to get a LPG-1-

Margaret Brennan: – Correct. You said he is interrupting. But, indeed, what the Republican whip John Barraso listened to, and Republican Senator Bill Cassidy spoke was the interruption of the vaccine availability. Cassidy said, I would say, indeed, we are denying vaccines to people. That is not Margaret Brennan, that is Bill Cassidy.

Sen. Marshall: Look, I do not agree, respectfully disagree. Think about this, what the CDC says is that if you are over 65, you can have the vaccine. It is interesting that the United Kingdom and France have established 75 and 80 as age. Therefore, all you need to do is send an email or call your doctor’s nurse and get a recipe, and you should get it. If you have more than 6 months, it is probably a good idea to talk to your doctor. And all that your nurse has to do is look at the graph and say, Oh, little Johnny has asthma, definitely also needs vaccination. So I think we are doing this way too complicated. Why do everyone lose their heads when it comes to the Covid vaccine? Why can’t we let the doctor and parents decide? Let patients decide. There are so many more important things we should talk about: chronic diseases, 20% of our adolescents have obesity, mental health problems and are in prescription medications. There are many more things than to speak than only Covid vaccines.

Margaret Brennan: No, but I think we are combining some things, including the operational aspect of this. I think people frustrated with their insurance companies. I think people frustrated with their pharmacies and the implementation of health policy. And you know that is more complicated than saying that we are changing some things here. There are great implications, and I want to talk to you about it because you said you like the MMR vaccine. You like DPT, polio, smallpox. You do not like hepatitis B, which is a liver infection, and you don’t think newborn children need to be vaccinated against it. Senator Cassidy, who is a liver doctor, said he treated poor and unattended patients and can be a condition that alters life for the rest of his life. So why is it not a convincing argument for you, that this should be available?

Sen. Marshall: I delivered a baby, I delivered a baby every day for 25 years. We did a hepatitis test in each of my patients at the time of childbirth. If that mother has a negative hepatitis test, she is in a stable and monogamous relationship, she is not making intravenous drugs, she is not letting her baby play in a sand box full of needle needles, then there is zero possibilities that this baby has hepatitis. Now, there are other mothers than or other babies who need it, it’s fine. We need to be more specific. We cannot be too prescriptive. If that mother has not had prenatal care, if she is an IV drug abuser, if she is not in a stable relationship, many reasons, but we need to choose and choose. Not all babies need hepatitis vaccine, and especially on day number one. What are these vaccines doing to mess with the immune system of that particular baby? So, that is my concern. Not all babies need the hepatitis-B vaccine.

Margaret Brennan: And I understand that it can also be extended from a home that shares tooth brushes or razor machinillas or, for example, if her partner was not monogamous, the pregnant woman, for example. But I listen to your point here that you want this to be more tailored, as more collection and choice. But others would argue, here, that when doing that, you will reduce immunization rates in general, if you create broader doubts in vaccines, and that it is a slippery slope, here. Do you worry at all that this is the food to take?

Sen. Marshall: Look, Anthony Fauci made more to create vaccines doubts that Bobby Kennedy will do in his four years, or eight years, for a long time he has secretary. That’s where the problem is. Then, do not blame Bobby Kennedy for the problems created by Anthony Fauci. But this, but I only say-

Margaret Brennan: -I ask you what you said about the hepatitis-b vaccine.

Sen. Marshall: I’m sorry. Forward.

Margaret Brennan: I wasn’t talking about Bobby Kennedy or secretary Kennedy. I was talking about you and what you said about the hepatitis-B vaccine, and are you worried that you choose and choose these things like this, this concept as giving more option, which also has the effect of undermining confidence in vaccines?

Sen. Marshall: I think this is a big difference between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats want a unique recipe for everyone. And I tell you, not everyone reads the one who reads that the book does exactly. I have confidence in doctors, nurses, parents and grandparents to make these decisions. I don’t think we should have a government policy that dictates each of these vaccines. I think that local politics, local schools, if they want to have requirements, what Florida did was a bridge too far. But how about a little common sense? Only a little common sense would go here.

Margaret Brennan: Well, because President Trump said he had some doubts about that Florida statement he also mentioned there, and that he likes many vaccines. Before letting you go, Secretary Kennedy founded this group that argues that women who take Tylenol or acetaminophen could be putting their babies at risk. They claim that there is a link to neurological development disorders. Would you take a pregnant woman to take a tylenol and don’t feel worried about that?

Sen. Marshall: Look, Tylenol is a category B drug. I have given it to many patients. It is on the approved list. But, said that, I try to tell my patients: my pregnant wife, not to take anything, because we do not know what we do not know. I am very cautious. You know, why 20% of our children had some kind of mental health disease at this time? Why do we have so many allergies to peanuts? Why do we have so many people with autoimmune diseases? We- then we don’t know. What we don’t know, we don’t know, and I want standard gold studies to help us solve this and solve it. But as far as I know, Tylenol is fine in pregnancy.

Margaret Brennan: Thank you, Senator, we will leave it there. We will return.