“I’m all for the polio vaccine,” Kennedy said in response to questions from reporters as he walked into the Hart Senate Office building ahead of his meetings with Republican senators Monday afternoon.

The longtime environmental lawyer and vaccine skeptic will be under scrutiny for his endorsement of debunked theories that vaccines cause autism and other chronic diseases. He has also said he wants to eliminate fluoride from the nation’s water supply, which has drawn criticism from health experts. 

By the end of Monday, Kennedy will have met with Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), and Tim Scott (R-SC). Kennedy is set to meet with over 25 GOP senators this week, in addition to a meeting with the Senate HELP Committee‘s Republican staff Thursday, according to a person familiar. 

“Mr. Kennedy is immensely prepared to meet with over 2 dozen Senators this week,” said a spokesperson with the transition. “He is energized, he is excited to talk about President Trump’s vision to make America healthy again.”

Kennedy, who dropped his independent bid for president and endorsed Trump in late August, is telling senators he doesn’t plan to take away vaccines but instead will promote transparency, according to sources. He is touting the main themes of his “Make America Healthy Again” campaign in which he pledged to clear out “entire categories” of health departments at bureaucracies such as the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

He is also discussing the importance of cracking down on ultra-processed food and researching chronic diseases. Nutrition could be a key area in which Kennedy could find consensus with Democrats, although none have gone as far as to say they will vote to confirm him. 

Rick Scott said he is “completely supportive of what [Kennedy] wants to accomplish” following his meeting, which lasted about an hour, and dodged a question about whether the two discussed the nominee’s claims linking vaccines to childhood autism.

“What he wants with vaccines is what I believe in — is transparency. I think we need to know with all vaccines, what has been the research and do they work,” the Florida senator said, speaking to reporters Monday evening.

“We talked about what he wants to accomplish, and I asked him, we talked about — how do we make sure Medicaid is a program where we keep people healthy, and how we make sure … Medicare’s program keeps them healthy,” Rick Scott added.

He said he did not specifically discuss the polio vaccine or Kennedy’s abortion stance in the meeting.

Kennedy’s position on abortion is likely to be under the microscope with Republican senators. The former Democrat-turned-independent presidential candidate supported abortion rights during his presidential bid. Kennedy is expected to reassure those who are concerned that he will endorse Trump’s position that abortion is a matter that is best left to the states following the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, the source confirmed.

Trump also is working to ease concerns about Kennedy, telling reporters at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago that his pick to lead HHS will not be “radical” in his health policy plans Monday.

“I think he’s going to be much less radical than you would think,” Trump said. “He’s going to have an open mind, or I wouldn’t have put him there.”

However, the president-elect didn’t answer a question about whether he believes vaccines cause autism and later suggested that pesticides could be correlating to rising autism diagnoses. 

While Trump refused to back vaccine requirements for children going to school, he defended the polio vaccine. A lawyer assisting Kennedy in choosing officials for his new role as head of HHS petitioned the government to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine Friday.

 “I’m a big believer in it,” Trump said. “You’re not going to lose the polio vaccine.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) slammed Kennedy’s efforts to petition federal regulators to withdraw the polio vaccine from the market. 

McConnell, who was diagnosed with polio as a child, is an ardent defender of the vaccine. Without directly naming Kennedy, McConnell suggested that the petition could jeopardize Kennedy’s chances of being confirmed. 

“Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed — they’re dangerous,” McConnell said in a statement. “Anyone seeking the Senate’s consent to serve in the incoming administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts.”

Kennedy plans to meet with Sens. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), James Lankford (R-OK), John Barrasso (R-WY), John Thune (R-SD), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Katie Britt (R-AL), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Rand Paul (R-KY), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Steve Daines (R-MT), Ted Budd (R-NC), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Dan Sullivan (R-AK).