Perhaps there was no vote suffering for Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and doctor, than his vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as President Trump's health secretary. Cassidy has been voicing and wondering for days how Kennedy, the country's most vocal and powerful critic of vaccinations, will deal with the infectious disease crisis.
Cassidy discovered it as the outbreak of measles is currently raging in western Texas. It all comes down to “Gestalt,” he said.
On Monday, days after the Texas outbreak killed an unvaccinated child, Cassidy, chairing the Senate Health Committee, was cutting down the Capitol corridor when asked about Kennedy. He pointed to the Fox News digital opinion piece, and Kennedy advised his parents to consult with their doctors about vaccination, calling it a “personal” decision.
“That Fox editorial was very encouraging people to get vaccinated,” he said.
It reminded Kennedy that he described it as a personal choice, Cassidy thought for a while. “If you want to like it, you can analyze it all the way to the line and say, 'discussing it with your doctor,'” Cassidy said. “He also said, 'We're making vaccinations available. We're doing this for vaccinations. We're doing it for vaccinations.” So, if you take a Gestalt of it, the Gestalt was 'Let's get vaccinated!' ”
Cassidy's rating reflects that Kennedy's entire message exceeded the total. It reflects how the measles outbreak is highlighting how unorthodox options for running Trump's top health agencies have brought a view of the past future into the political mainstream and created discomfort in some republics.
As founder and chairman of his nonprofit, Children's Health Defense, and later as a presidential candidate, Kennedy repeatedly downplayed the benefits of vaccination. He has also repeatedly suggested that measles, mumps and rubella vaccines cause autism despite extensive research that has not found links.
To win Trump's nod and lead the vast Department of Health and Human Services department, Kennedy has walked the cautious line on the issue. Some of his recent statements that have stopped him from denounceing the vaccine have angered some of his supporters. But his approval of full-throat vaccination, and promotion of alternative remedies to treat measles, has angered mainstream scientists who say that the method that has been proven to prevent measles is a vaccine.
“I think this is the lowest minimum you can do in the middle of a measles outbreak,” said Dr. Adam Ratner, a pediatrician in New York City who just published a book called “Booster Shot,” which warns measles' revival.
But Delbig Tree, Kennedy's former communications director and one of his closest allies, said Kennedy was doing exactly what he said.
He used the term “balance” to explain Kennedy's approach, saying that the media is “incredibly dishonest, some kind of vigilant and dangerous by causing panic over death from measles.”
Asked about Cassidy's “Gestalt” remarks, Andrew Nixon, the department's spokesman, returned to the Fox opinion article. He said the Health Secretary's comments could speak for itself: “The vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity and protect those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.”
Liver expert Cassidy has created a medical career treating uninsured patients as doctors in Louisiana's charity hospital system. He is a fierce supporter of the vaccine.
However, he faced a major Republican challenger in 2026, and the vote for Kennedy urged Trump to support his opponent, sparking potential backlash among increasingly vaccine-skeptical GOP electors.
Kennedy's “free healthcare” movement, which he calls “to bring America healthy again,” has become deeply entrenched in the Republican Party. The coronavirus pandemic has changed many conservatives against vaccine orders, even children in school. Nationally, almost 1,000 candidates, almost all Republicans, ran for election offices in November.
For Cassidy and other Republicans who were worried about Kennedy, the situation in western Texas forces calculations, said Whit Ayers, a Republican strategist who is also a member of Rotary International, who set the goal of ending polio by promoting vaccinations around the world.
“His position on the vaccine was very well known when he was nominated and when he was confirmed by the US Senate,” Ayers said. “Everyone opened his eyes and knew that his position could lead to the revival of measles.”
With vaccination rates falling nationwide, public health experts warn that measles will be the first infection to return. But the Texas measles outbreak cannot be blamed on Kennedy. The disease began to spread within the Mennonite community, an island Christian group that settled in West Texas in the 1970s. Many mennonites are vulnerable to the virus without being vaccinated.
At a cabinet meeting with Trump last week, Kennedy minimised the situation in Texas and said that the outbreak of measles in the United States is “unusual.” His fox opinion piece promoted the use of vitamin A. This has been shown in research that can help treat measles in malnourished children.
He continued in a pre-coded Fox News interview with Fox News that aired Tuesday. There, parents and doctors said an alternative approach that includes cod liver oil should be considered for the treatment of measles. He also confirmed that the vaccine “prevents infection.” But once again, Kennedy did not urge Americans to get vaccinated.
The Texas Department of Health issued a health alert on January 23rd reporting two cases of measles. Since then, nearly 160 people have been ill and 22 have been hospitalized. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday it sent some of its “sick detectives” to Texas to help local officials.
By Wednesday, Cassidy appeared happy with the handling of Kennedy's issues, but the senator had pushed another important health candidate for measles, vaccines and autism issues.
He wanted to know if he appeared before the Senate Health Committee for a confirmation hearing as Trump, which aimed to spend taxes on research into a credible theory that vaccines cause autism. Cassidy repeatedly and failed to try and get Kennedy to reject the theory at his own confirmation hearing.
Dr. Bhatacharya told the senator he was “confident” there was no link between the measles vaccine and autism. But like Kennedy, he said he supported additional research just to alleviate the fears of nervous parents.
Cassidy was furious, saying the issue had already been solved by extensive research over the years. In a new study, he said he wasted taxpayer dollars and would steal money from studies that might reveal the true cause of autism. He hit his fist on the table.
“If you're paying here,” he said with a wave of hands.
And in any case, Cassidy said further research will not change your mind. “There are people who oppose the world's roundness,” he says, “people still think Elvis is alive.”
Last month, Kennedy made a series of concessions to secure Cassidy's vote. They included a pledge not to dissolve the expert committee advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines, leaving an unharmed statement on the CDC website that the vaccine does not cause autism.
Kennedy also has a “unprecedented, close collaboration relationship” with Cassidy, meeting and talking “multiple times a month” and commits to inform Congress in advance of changes to vaccine policy.
“We'll take a close look at the efforts that mistakenly soothe the public's fear of vaccines between coincidence and anecdote references,” Cassidy said at the time.
On his way into the Senate Chamber of Commerce on Monday, he said he thought Kennedy was doing a good job in his Texas response. “He handles that well,” the senator said. He was asked if he had spoken to Mr. Kennedy about the outbreak of measles.
“We talk regularly,” Cassidy said. “Let's leave that behind.”
