Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) delivered an emotional warning about the dangers of measles Tuesday while appearing to take aim at Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for not doing enough to encourage Americans to get vaccinated.
Speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead,” Cassidy, a physician, urged Kennedy to take a more aggressive approach as measles cases surge nationwide.
“My concern as a physician is that everyone should be vaccinated for measles,” Cassidy said. “And you may think it only affects me. That's not true, because you infect other people.”
The Louisiana Republican pointed to the death of an unborn child after a pregnant woman contracted measles following exposure to an unvaccinated person.
“She was pregnant. She was vulnerable, and she ended up losing her child when she got measles. She lost her baby,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy then turned his attention to Kennedy, urging the MAGA administration health secretary to step up his vaccination messaging.
“I would ask that he also push it and that he have CDC and others push it,” Cassidy said Tuesday. “In fairness, he's asked people to be immunized. Probably hasn't asked them very vigorously, but nonetheless, he has asked him to be immunized.”
Tapper offered his own observation.
“You've been more vigorous on the show talking about measles in the last minute than he has been in the last year,” the CNN anchor told Cassidy.
That led Cassidy to issue an impassioned plea as the interview concluded.
“I have seen people die from vaccine-preventable diseases,” Cassidy said. “You get vaccinated, you don’t die. You're not vaccinated. You do die. It's almost personal for me.”
“So I'll just make a plea for anybody watching: Please be vaccinated.”