Cassidy criticizes Hegseth after flu outbreak at Texas Air Force base

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on Sunday knocked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after an outbreak of influenza infected several service members at an Air Force base in Texas.

Cassidy, a licensed gastroenterologist and the first physician to chair the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” that “we do see the consequences, though, of ignoring the benefits that things like vaccines bring for public health.”

“And if you will, I think what you’re going after is that this administration, parts of it, have tried to downplay the importance of immunization,” he said.

“The Secretary of War, Hegseth, recently did away with the flu mandate, and then there was a big outbreak of flue in one of their military outfits,” Cassidy said.

The senator recalled the deaths caused by the 1918 flu pandemic in Germany during World War I.

“Combat readiness means preventing disease, and if you want to be combat-ready, you don’t want everybody out with the flu,” he........

© The Hill