Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) is under fire after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced plans to fire all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee – just months after the lawmaker voted to confirm him under the assurances he would do no such thing.
Kennedy, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Monday, said the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is plagued by “persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine.” Kennedy added that the move is meant to "earn" back public trust in vaccines.
But critics, including prominent health experts and journalists, quickly pointed to Kennedy’s confirmation promises – especially one made to Cassidy that directly contradicts Monday’s announcement.
"OUTRIGHT LIED—Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised Senator Cassidy: "If confirmed, [RFK Jr] will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee Immunization Practices without changes,” epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding wrote in an X post. “Yet, RFK Jr fired all CDC ACIP scientists today.”
Republicans against Trump told their X followers Monday: “When Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a doctor and lifelong vaccination advocate, ultimately decided to vote to confirm RFK Jr., he said this just before the vote: ‘If confirmed, he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without changes.’ You must be so proud of that vote, Senator.”
“Paging Senator Cassidy. Senator Cassidy, please come to the white hospitality phone and explain why you thought this wouldn't happen,” Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle posted to social media.
“This is a direct violation of what Cassidy said RFK assured him,” added MSNBC contributor and Bulwark editor Sam Stein, in an X post.
Cassidy himself posted on X Monday and told his followers that he had “just spoken with Secretary Kennedy,” and would “continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.”
“Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,” Cassidy added.
But his post only fanned the criticism.
“Cassidy does not immediately address the fact that RFK did the thing he said RFK wouldn't,” CNN senior political reporter Aaron Blake posted to his X account. “He's instead talking about working with him on the next steps.”
“As a reminder, when Sen. Bill Cassidy voted to confirm him, he said that RFK had promised to maintain the vaccine advisory panel ‘without changes,’” Yahoo Finance reporter Jordan Weissmann said on X.