GOP Sen. Cassidy seeks to explain RFK Jr. confirmation vote for Health and Human Services

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) in a Sunday interview sought to explain his controversial vote to confirm Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as he said Kennedy is dug in on his views toward vaccinations despite public opinion.

Cassidy, the first physician to serve as the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” that Kennedy “has not restored trust in public health.”

“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,” said Cassidy, who was defeted in a GOP primary earlier this year by a Trump-backed rival.

“And again, if you look at the measles outbreak, in which thousands of kids got measles, with the consequences of that, clearly the American people understand immunization is important,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy insisted that the White House “has seen” polling that underscores the importance of vaccines to Americans, adding that the administration “clearly has gotten off the anti-vaccine message into something more positive” in the face of a measles outbreak.

But he signaled Trump may not break with Kennedy, who he repeatedly said “serves at the president’s pleasure.”

Cassidy told Brennan that it was “easy to........

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