Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, has sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for fewer childhood vaccines and splitting immunizations into separate medical visits. Cassidy, who lost a primary for reelection in May, told CNN during an Aug. 16 interview that dividing the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three shots would burden families and increase insurance costs without offering health benefits.
As a physician and chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Cassidy noted that instead of parents taking children for vaccinations twice, they could face six doctor’s office visits, potentially missing work for the additional appointments. “This is inconvenient. It’s going to contribute to an increased loss of income. And by the way, instead of the insurance company paying for two doctor’s visits, they’re paying for six, which is going to ultimately drive up premiums, going after affordability,” Cassidy said.
When asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper about Trump’s claim that the vaccine moves could “save millions of lives,” Cassidy responded, “If it wasn’t so potentially tragic, you would break out laughing at a comment like that.” The senator, who is a gastroenterologist, alleged that the policy is “wrong on so many levels” and suggested it demonstrates that the president has lost focus on affordability. “This is working backwards on affordability,” he added.
Cassidy further criticized the logic of the order, stating, “MAHA wants fewer jabs, not more. This substitutes two jabs with six jabs. And so even the people he’s trying to appeal to have to scratch their heads and think ‘What in the hell is going on here?'”
Addressing criticism regarding his vote to confirm Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a known vaccine skeptic, Cassidy remarked, “people always want to bring that up and all I can say is you have to live life living forward.” He argued that the government should pursue positive policies to improve public health, asserting that “making America healthy again” should increase, rather than decrease, immunization rates.
Last week, while signing the executive order, Trump told reporters that “together there could be a possibility [the MMR vaccine is] quite lethal and separately, it looks like they are not at all lethal, but just very effective.” Medical experts maintain the MMR vaccine is not lethal when administered together, and research does not support the president’s argument that splitting the immunizations provides health benefits. has reached out to the White House for comment.