said he received numerous promises from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Trump administration to defend medicine and science, especially regarding vaccines, cementing his support for the nominee to become HHS secretary.
Cassidy said Kennedy and the administration have promised an “unprecedentedly close and collaborative working relationship” that includes meetings or conversations between them “several times a month.” They also said Kennedy could appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which Cassidy currently chairs, on a quarterly basis if needed.
Most of the promises were about vaccines, including that Kennedy would work within the current approval and safety monitoring systems rather than creating parallel systems. It will also keep the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendations unchanged, and claims that vaccines do not cause autism will not be removed from the CDC website.
Kennedy also would not use “disruptive methods… such as legal action to change policies passed by Congress without first going through Congress,” Cassidy said.
He also noted that Kennedy asked him to weigh in on hiring decisions at HHS beyond Senate-confirmed positions.
Both Kennedy and the administration are “committed to a strong role for Congress,” Cassidy said, thanks in part to meetings with the HELP committee. The committee chairman will also be able to select a representative to any board or commission created to review the safety of vaccines.
In addition, HHS will provide the committee with 30-day notice if it seeks to make changes to any federal vaccine safety monitoring programs, and the committee will be able to convene a hearing on any potential changes to those programs, Cassidy said.
“If Mr. Kennedy is confirmed, I will use my authority as chairman of the Senate committee under HHS oversight to fight back against any efforts to deny the public access to life-saving vaccines without ironclad, causal scientific evidence that can be accepted and defended before the mainstream scientific community and before Congress,” Cassidy said. “I will be closely monitoring any attempts to inappropriately instill public fear of vaccines using confusing references to coincidences and anecdotes. But my support is based on the assurance that this is not a concern and that he and I can work together to develop a program that will help make America healthy again.”
During a press briefing Tuesday, Georges Benjamin, MD, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said he was skeptical that Cassidy and Congress would have much influence over Kennedy's decisions.
“Is he going to pick up the phone and call the senator every time he has to make a controversial decision? I don’t think so,” Benjamin told reporters. “Even if so, whose opinion is more important?” he asked, referring to President Trump.
“If we thought that Mr. Kennedy would have a good kitchen cabinet of advisers who would surround him with good advice, that would be one thing. But in the past he hasn’t shown that at all,” Benjamin added. “Any promises he made to a good senator, he will break those promises. You can take it to the bank.”
Caitlin Jetelina, Ph.D., M.P.H., author of a popular public health newsletter, said during the briefing that she is concerned that Kennedy will still have “a lot of leverage” as health secretary to continue to sow doubt about vaccines.
“Of course, he may not close the CDC page on vaccines and autism,” she said, “but what he says and how he says it will be an important indicator for Americans.”
