Cassidy says – Sen. Bill Cassidy, a vaccine-skeptic critic’s former ally, says HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. broke promises Cassidy helped secure—promises he tied to public trust in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cassidy also ties his broader clash wit
Washington — Sen. Bill Cassidy didn’t start with a debate about vaccines. He started with a vote, a promise, and what he says came after.
Cassidy, a medical doctor who chairs the Senate health committee, strongly criticized Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine skepticism and the handling of the nation’s public health—even though Cassidy delivered the key vote to advance Kennedy’s nomination last year.
On “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Cassidy said it’s “easy to surmise” Kennedy made promises to him to win his vote. Since then, Cassidy said the commitments Kennedy made to him and to the country “have been violated.”
“If you build public health upon a foundation of lies, then you’re going to have the absence of adequate public health,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy cast his support as a choice about safeguards. He said he voted to help confirm Kennedy because the alternate scenario was having him installed in a czar-type role without any congressional oversight.
“Bobby Kennedy was going to have the ear of the President. The President seems to be fascinated with the Kennedys,” Cassidy remarked.
Cassidy said there were two paths: one where Kennedy would operate with guardrails and commitments, and another where he would be appointed a White House health czar with the president’s ear but without those protections.
“Either he was going to be in a position where there were guardrails. and I did have commitments made as to kind of guardrails. Or he was going to be appointed White House health czar. in which case he would have the president’s ear without the guardrails. ” Cassidy said. “You can criticize it, but I chose to have the one with the guardrails.”.
When asked whether Kennedy restored trust in public health—something Cassidy had said he hoped Kennedy might do—the senator answered bluntly: “He has not restored trust in public health.” He pointed to reports that the Trump administration was trying to rein in Kennedy.
Cassidy also tied the debate to public understanding, saying, “Polling shows that the American people understand that vaccines are important, and for someone to be out there saying that they’re not goes against their experience.”
He said the administration has moved away from the message he sees as anti-vaccine. When asked if the president is aware of public perception around some of Kennedy’s agenda, Cassidy said, “The administration clearly has gotten off the anti-vaccine message into something more positive.”
A pledge on autism and CDC language became part of Cassidy’s claim that agreements were kept—and then broken. In a speech on the Senate floor on Feb. 4. 2025. Cassidy said Kennedy made promises to him including a pledge that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would keep statements on its website noting there is no established link between vaccines and autism.
Cassidy said that while the current CDC web page has a heading stating “Vaccines do not cause Autism,” it appears with an asterisk and says at the bottom of the page that the phrase remains on the site due to an agreement with Cassidy.
He described what appears immediately below the heading: “this webpage has been updated because the statement ‘Vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim.” The page. Cassidy said. also raises questions about the statement. arguing that “there are still no studies that support the specific claim that infant vaccines DTaP. HepB. Hib. IPV. and PCV. do not cause autism.”.
Cassidy also said research has found no evidence of increased rates of autism among those who are vaccinated compared to those who are not.
In the “Face the Nation” interview, Cassidy said, “I can tell you that that broken agreement that I had with the secretary, that that was not supposed to happen.” He said HHS did not respond to a CBS request for a response to Cassidy’s accusation.
Kennedy, for his part, testified last June in a budget hearing before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee that he is “complying with all the agreements” he made with Senator Cassidy.
Cassidy didn’t ignore where he said Kennedy has been more constructive. He gave Kennedy credit for his focus on ultra-processed foods, saying, “If that’s where he stayed, our country would be really much better off.”
But he returned to his central argument: that immunizations being treated as dangerous has been disproven.
“But the concept that immunizations somehow are bad has been clearly disproven by life experience, because what’s happening is people getting sick, in some cases dying, and the administration clearly has moved away from that,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy’s criticism of Kennedy reached beyond domestic messaging. He said he strongly objected to what he called Kennedy’s efforts to roll back U.S.-led initiatives to end disease in Africa and elsewhere.
“I strongly objected to what Bobby did with immunizations overseas,” Cassidy said. “That is a form of soft power. We are in a global geopolitical competition with China. One thing that’s helped us tremendously in Sub-Saharan Africa is the PEPFAR program and immunization programs. in which people there thank the United States and are predisposed to work with us.”.
Cassidy referred to PEPFAR—also known as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. He said PEPFAR’s operations were disrupted in the early months of the second Trump administration as part of Elon Musk’s closure of USAID, which administered parts of the program.
He said the initiative was signed into law by President George W. Bush more than two decades ago and saved an estimated 26 million lives by delivering vital medications and education about the disease according to the State Department.
Cassidy said Kennedy also curtailed U.S. participation in GAVI—the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization—which helps immunize people in third world countries.
“It is better than sending troops, it’s cheaper than sending troops, it’s a humane thing to do,” Cassidy said. “It’s in the U.S. interest. Bobby was opposed to it because he had some foolish notion about the dangers of vaccines. but instead we see. more. people are dying of disease. Next. there’s not a vaccine for Ebola. but it’s. but it’s fair to say that the infrastructure we had helped create in Africa had been damaged by the changes in USAID. for example. and that probably made us less capable of responding.”.
On GAVI and the direction of U.S. policy, Cassidy pointed to a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Rubio said in a Senate Foreign Relations hearing on June 2 that “the State Department’s going to be renengaging,” and that HHS will still have a role.
“We want to take their input, but we’d like to get this issue resolved and an outcome that’s acceptable both to Congress and also to our goals on global health,” Rubio said.
Cassidy’s larger warning was not only about what he says Kennedy believes—it was about what he says Kennedy promised and what Cassidy says didn’t hold.
The senator’s argument hangs on a simple sequence: a vote cast for guardrails. then language and policy that Cassidy says drifted away from the commitments tied to that vote. And for Cassidy. the consequence of that drift is immediate and physical. not political—“people getting sick. in some cases dying. ” and what he calls weakening public health at home and abroad.
Bill Cassidy RFK Jr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. HHS Face the Nation vaccine policy CDC autism statement DTaP HepB Hib IPV PCV PEPFAR GAVI USAID Senate health committee public health