I believe Cassidy was sincere in his remarks, but the ultimate test will be how he votes.
Senate HELP Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy deftly conveyed his reservations about voting to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be secretary of health and human services at his Thursday hearing.
There are plenty of reasons to be skittish about the RFK Jr. nomination — his lack of understanding of how Medicare and Medicaid work, his support for a government-run health-care plan, and his pro-abortion radicalism. But Cassidy chose to focus on RFK Jr.’s history of promoting skepticism of vaccines.
Cassidy delivered his criticisms in a calm and civil manner. He started off by acknowledging that he had some areas of agreement with Kennedy, such as concerns about processed foods and their connection to obesity and chronic diseases.
But then he got personal.
Cassidy described how before he entered politics, he spent 30 years in medicine, specializing in liver disease. He told a harrowing story of having to load an 18-year-old girl onto a medical helicopter to undergo an emergency liver transplant — an operation that carried a relatively high risk of mortality, as well as a cost of $250,000 (plus recurring annual bills of $50,000).
“As I saw her take off, I was so depressed, a $50 vaccine could have prevented this all,” Cassidy recalled.
The senator described the moment as an “inflection point” in his career. “Ever since, I have tried to do everything I can so that I do not ever have to see another parent lose their child due to a vaccine-preventable illness.”
In the years that followed, he said, he worked on programs to encourage childhood vaccination.
Turning to the issue of the moment, Cassidy noted that RFK Jr. has a massive following, and that constituents have called to tell him that he has influenced their decisions not to vaccinate their kids.
“Your past of undermining vaccine confidence with unfounded or misleading arguments is concerning to me,” Cassidy said. “Can I trust that that is now in the past? Can data and information change your opinion, or will you only look for data that supports your predetermined conclusion?”
During the question and answer period, Kennedy assured Cassidy that were he presented with data that show the safety and efficacy of vaccines, he would vouch for them and admit he was wrong. Of course, as Cassidy noted, the data on vaccines have been clear for decades, during which time Kennedy has promoted skepticism about them.
In his closing remarks, Cassidy indicated he was “struggling” with the nomination and questioned whether it was realistic to suspect somebody of RFK Jr.’s age to suddenly change his mind on vaccines.
“Now put differently, we are about the same age, does a 70 year old man — 71-year-old man who has spent decades criticizing vaccines and who is 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?” Cassidy mused. “Will you continue what you have been, or will you overturn a new leaf at age 70?”
Cassidy, considering the politics, also made sure to highlight the potential political risk to President Trump, should Kennedy be confirmed.
“If there is someone that is not vaccinated because of policies or attitudes you bring to the department and there is another 18-year-old who dies of a vaccine-preventable disease, helicoptered away, God forbid dies, it’ll be blown up in the press,” he said. “The greatest tragedy will be her death, but I can also tell you an associated tragedy, will — that will cast a shadow over President Trump’s legacy, which I want to be the absolute best legacy it can be.”
One of the tragedies of Covid was that the push to mandate vaccines based on exaggerated claims of their effectiveness at preventing infection and transmission gave new life to vaccine critics like RFK Jr., and made more people start to question vaccines whose safety and effectiveness have been established for decades. The truth is that vaccinations have been the cheapest and most successful medical interventions in the history of the world. It would be dangerous to give somebody with RFK Jr.’s background so much influence over them.
I believe Cassidy was sincere in his remarks, but the ultimate test will be how he votes. As a senator up for reelection in 2026 in a state that Trump won by 22 points, who is already under fire already for voting to convict Trump in the post–January 6 impeachment, it would obviously take political courage to vote against a key nominee of the president. Not to mention all the attacks on him being in the pocket of drug companies. But I’m sure deep down he knows that it’s the right thing to do. And were he to do so, we may look back at his performance at this week’s hearing as Cassidy’s finest hour.
You can read or watch Cassidy’s full opening statement here and closing remarks here.