Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy calls President Donald Trump’s federal health directives ‘stupid policy’
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy called President Donald Trump’s overhaul of the childhood vaccination process a “stupid policy” on Sunday, August 16. The Louisiana Republican and physician criticized Trump’s executive order targeting the childhood immunization schedule, arguing that administering combination vaccines separately would increase costs, doctor visits and injections without offering a scientific benefit.
Bill Cassidy criticizes Donald Trump’s vaccine changes
Appearing on ABC News’ This Week, Cassidy said Trump’s directive will make routine childhood vaccinations more complicated for families without improving protection against diseases. Trump’s executive order aims to separate the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into individual shots when available. “It’s stupid policy,” Cassidy said. “It’s inconvenient for the parent.” The senator argued that splitting combination vaccines means more appointments and injections for children. “Instead of your child getting two shots, [they have] to get six shots,” he said. “Instead of the child getting two visits, you’re doing it six times.”
Cassidy also linked the issue to broader political concerns, saying the added inconvenience and expense could undermine support for the Trump administration. “This is why the president’s poll numbers are down,” he said.
Trump’s directive also aims to make several universally recommended vaccines optional based on shared decision-making between doctors and parents.
The vaccines and autism debate
While signing the executive order, Trump said that the recommendations concerned “many subjects but including autism in particular,” although autism was not referenced in the order itself.
Cassidy rejected any suggestion of a proven connection between vaccines causing autism. “There is no evidence whatsoever,” he said, pointing to National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya’s testimony before the Senate in February. Bhattacharya said he had “not seen a study that suggests any single vaccine causes autism.” He also said studies had established there is “no link” between MMR vaccination and autism, while noting that some other vaccines are “less well studied.”
Experts dispute Donald Trump’s vaccine volume claims
Trump has also argued that childhood vaccinations can involve excessive volumes of vaccine being administered at once, saying he had seen vaccinations “the size of a bottle of soda poured into a little child’s body.” However, medical experts have challenged that characterization. Melissa Stockwell, chief of child and adolescent health at Columbia University, previously told Newsweek that routine early-childhood vaccinations under the current U.S. schedule amount to roughly two teaspoons in total. Including school-age vaccines and annual flu and COVID shots throughout childhood, the overall volume amounts to only “a couple of tablespoons,” Stockwell said. A standard 12-ounce soda bottle contains about 24 tablespoons.
Stockwell also said the immune-system exposure from a routine bacterial infection is substantially greater than that generated by all recommended childhood vaccines combined. At the same time, public-health experts have warned that separating vaccines and reducing universal recommendations could delay immunization and lower vaccination rates, particularly as the U.S. experiences its largest measles resurgence in more than three decades.
Bill Cassidy questions Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation promises
Cassidy’s criticism is particularly significant because of his role in confirming Robert F. Kennedy J. as Health and Human Services secretary despite concerns about his positions on immunization. During Sunday’s interview, host Martha Raddatz asked Cassidy whether Kennedy had broken assurances made during the confirmation process. Cassidy stopped short of accusing Kennedy of lying but said he had made several commitments regarding vaccination policy that he now seems to be walking out on. “There are guarantees that were given to me and guarantees that were supposedly going to be enforced by the White House,” Cassidy said. “Among those were not to affect the ACIP [Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices] schedule.”
Difficult political history with Donald Trump
The chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Cassidy’s opposition to Trump’s order also comes against the backdrop of his difficult political history with the president. He was one of only seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, and Trump subsequently supported efforts to defeat Cassidy politically.
Cassidy’s Senate term is set to end in January 2027, making him one of the Senate Republicans with fewer political pressures than those seeking Trump’s endorsement, which, in turn, allows him to clash with Trump over the vaccine stance more fearlessly.