Washington D.C. – Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) – the Senate HELP Committee Chairman who cast the clinching vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Trump’s health secretary despite his open hostility towards vaccine science – has once again taken to social media to condemn Kennedy’s latest assault on public health.
With little to no input from the legitimate medical and scientific community, on Monday the Trump-RFK Jr. CDC moved to dramatically and immediately downgrade the number of vaccine recommendations for American children to 11, down from 17, Among the long-proven safe and effective preventive treatments the Trump administration no longer recommends includes shots for rotavirus, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A and influenza, which as Politico notes has “already killed nine American children so far this winter season.”
Public Health Watch, a project of Protect Our Care, implored Senator Cassidy to do more than fire off sad tweets feigning shock and expressing disappointment over Kennedy’s predictable pursuit of a reckless and unfounded anti-vaccine agenda that has repeatedly undermined public health and put the lives of American children at risk.
“Senator Cassidy put his personal political preservation above all by casting the deciding vote to confirm RFK Jr., even after raising many valid concerns over Kennedy’s pursuit of a dangerous anti-vaccine agenda,” said Kayla Hancock, Director of Public Health Watch, a project of Protect Our Care. “It is obvious that Kennedy was always hellbent on pushing vaccine misinformation to AmericansAmericans no matter how much the data and science show them to be safe and effective. And now, with each new baseless attack on vaccine safety and efficacy that Secretary Kennedy carries out — like gutting the child vaccine schedule — more American lives are needlessly put in jeopardy. Dr. Cassidy knows this better than anyone, and it’s time he backs up his empty words of ‘concern’ with serious action.
“As HELP Committee Chairman, Cassidy could bring RFK Jr. before Congress to hold the Secretary accountable for leaving our children more vulnerable to preventable diseases,” continued Hancock. “Cassidy could introduce legislation offering a check on Kennedy’s dangerous policies that are condemned by medical experts across the country. How much of a needless spike in the U.S. child mortality rate is Cassidy willing to accept before demanding Secretary Kennedy’s resignation, firing, or impeachment? Continuing to do nothing in Cassidy’s position of power will only embolden the Trump-RFK Jr. HHS to further allow fringe conspiracy theories and pseudoscience to dictate our public health policies.”
A LOOK BACK AT SOME OF THE LIES SENATOR CASSIDY WAS WILLING TO ACCEPT FROM RFK JR. :
- RFK Jr. Committed To Not Change Vaccine Review Standards, Nor Deprioritize Or Delay Vaccine Approval. During Kennedy’s confirmation hearings, Senator Cassidy asked, “[Do you] promise that the FDA will not deprioritize or delay review and/or approval of new vaccines, and that vaccine review standards will not change from historical norms?” Kennedy replied, “Yes.” [Science, 1/30/25]
- RFK Jr. Assured Cassidy He Would Maintain The CDC’s ACIP Without Changes. Cassidy said, “If confirmed, [RFK] will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without changes.” [Chief Health Care Executive, 2/11/25]
- RFK Jr. Assured Senator Cassidy The CDC Will Not Remove Statements On Government Website Debunking Lies About Vaccines and Autism. During Kennedy’s confirmation hearing, Senator Bill Cassidy said, “If confirmed, he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without changes. CDC will not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.”
- RFK Jr. Committed To Basing CDC Recommendations On Peer-Reviewed, Consensus-Based, Widely Accepted Science. During Kennedy’s confirmation hearings, Senator Cassidy asked, “Do you commit that you will revise any CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] recommendations only based on peer review, consensus-based, widely accepted science? In other words, not personal beliefs or the beliefs of any single person that you or your department may identify?” Kennedy replied, “Absolutely senator. I’m not going to go into HHS and impose my preordained opinions on anybody. … I’m going to empower the scientists at HHS to do their job and make sure that we have good science that’s evidence based, that’s replicated.”
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