
Senator Bill Cassidy, MD (R-LA), voted “yes” today to advance Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination to be Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from the Senate Finance Committee to a vote on the Senate floor.
Cassidy's vote was a tie-breaker, and closely watched after RFK Jr.'s testimony in front of two senate committees last week on which Cassidy serves. During appearances in front of both the Finance Committee and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Cassidy engaged Kennedy in contentious and lengthy debate about Kennedy’s support of childhood immunizations in the United States.
RFK Jr., a lawyer with no medical or public health training, is a longtime vaccine critic who has said vaccines cause autism and has suggested Black Americans should adhere to a different vaccine schedule than white peers.
Cassidy claims Kennedy made several promises, commitments
During last week’s testimony, Cassidy pushed Kennedy on the topic of vaccines several times, asking, “Does a 70-year-old man, who spent decades criticizing vaccines and was financially vested in finding fault with vaccines - can he change his attitudes and approach now that he'll have the most important position influencing vaccine policy in the United States?”
Today Cassidy took to the Senate floor to explain his vote, saying he and Kennedy spoke at length over the weekend and that Kennedy had made several promises to him, including a promise to alert the Senate with a 30-day advance notice before changing vaccine safety monitoring programs.
Cassidy, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said he will also meet with Kennedy regularly if he is elected head of HHS. A final confirmation vote for Kennedy is scheduled next week. If senators vote on party lines, four Republican senators would need to vote “no” for his confirmation to fail.