In the days before a pivotal vote on Robert F. Kennedy Junior to become the best official in Heath in America, all eyes focused on Senator Bill Cassidy. The central issue of the Republic of Louisiana was Kennedy’s doubts about vaccines.
Casidi chairs Senate Committee It supervises the Ministry of Health and Humanitarian Services. He is also a doctor Proud of his work To get tens of thousands of children who were immunized against Hepatitis BA disease that can lead to liver failure, cirrhosis and cancer. in Nomination Last month, Kennedy told that he was afraid that people would die due to unworthy diseases for the vaccine “due to the policies or situations that he brought to the department.”
However, Cassidy finally presented the one -voting margin needed to pay Kennedy’s nomination to the full Senate. He said it was It was affected by Kennedy’s obligations To support Function schedules Recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, preserving the systems used to examine new vaccines and monitor their safety, and maintain data on the CDC website guarantee that The vaccines do not cause autismAnd get to know Cassidy “several times a month”, among other things.
“I will carefully see any effort to plant public fear of vaccines,” said Senator, who will return to his re -election in 2026.
Cassidy’s intention is to serve as one individual man against measles, polio and dozens of other diseases that may be honest. But in reality, he will not have a little strength to impose the conditions of his agreement with Kennedy.
Kennedy, if confirmed, will be honored More than 80,000 workers At the Disease Control Center, Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health and the Medical and Medical Care Services Center, among other agencies.
Casidi, on the other hand, controls only one of 100 votes in the Senate.
His authority to ensure that the leader of the health and potential humanitarian services will not only tolerate vaccines, but also promoted it with greater activity before the committee’s vote last week, when he had influence to review the nomination. Cassidy can still change his opinion before the final Senate vote – a step that some welcomes medical and Call the patient Groups – but at least three other Republicans will have to join him to prevent Kennedy’s confirmation
He will have a lower effect after Kennedy installed in the health department, and he said Kathleen Hall JamesonDirector of the Annberg Center for Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
Jameson said: “As I can try Cassidy, his ability to act as soon as the confirmation passes is limited,” Jameson said. “Do I expect that he will do everything in his power? no. “
Dr. George BenjaminThe CEO of American Public Health, was also pessimistic about Cassidy’s chances to ensure that Kennedy supports his team from the deal. He stated that Senator Susan Collins (R -Men) said she had her Receive assurances From Neil Burch and Brett Cavano, they will not turn Ro against a valley if they are submitted to the Supreme Court.
“You see how that succeeded,” Benjamin said.
Cassidy refused to clarify his agreement with Kennedy, according to a spokesman for the Health, Education and pensions committee in the Senate.
Jameson said that even if Kennedy continues with all the elements in the deal, there are countless other measures that he can take and that contradict her soul.
For example, she said that the Center for Disease Control can publish a warning on its website, people advise people not to take the seedling Rana vaccines. This scenario is not far-fetch-Florida’s general wound Disturb From obtaining Covid-19 reinforced clips based on non-scientific concerns about How do we work. (The same health official also Parents advised Florida Their unjust children enrolled in a school with an active eruption of the group, who did not necessarily need to keep their children at home for 21 days recommended.)
Jameson said that the anti -vaccine information on federal government websites can spread widely because the results of Google’s searches for Google tend to benefit from information from CDC.
If Kennedy or any other person in the Ministry of Health and Humanitarian Services take steps to undermine the support for vaccines Chairman of the Assistant Committee And make good to threaten to call the supervision session.
“There is no minister secretary who welcomes an appearance before the Supervisory Committee.” Dr. Peter LaurieHead of the Science Center in the Public Authority, a non -profit institution focuses on public health issues.
He said that when Lori worked in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during the Obama administration, these hearings were frightening events that required “hours and hours” of preparation.
He said: “They are emotional,” and it was known that government officials are forcing deals to get out of them.
Lori added that a seat in the financially divided financial committee could also threaten Cassidy to oppose Kennedy’s spending priorities in future voices.
During the second nomination session, Kennedy presented a deeper discussion with Cassidi on the research that convinced the prevailing scientific and medical community that Vaccines do not cause autism.
“You see these scientific studies and you can meet them,” Kennedy said.
Jameson said that men can use their usual meetings for this purpose, but it is unlikely to break the dilemma.
She said, “Anything that Cassidy says will be sterile.” Kennedy “can adopt radical doubts about anything.”
The most productive use of that time will be “finding a common floor” by focusing on ways to support initiatives such as National Diabetes Prevention Program and Health Center Program He said that both improve health care and low costs Dr. Elbert HuangDirector of the Center for Chronic Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Chicago.
Dr. James CragerExecutive Director of the Da`wah Group America’s healthy foodHe suggested that the two can work together to close the legal vulnerability that allows food companies to add new vehicles to their products without notifying the FDA. They can also address other problems, such as limiting the impact of companies on government health decisions and cooperation with the Federal Trade Committee to restrict unwanted food ads targeting children.
“People have talked about these things for a long time,” Crager said.
Cassidy was clear all the time to support Kennedy’s focus on preventive health. Whether this will be sufficient to compensate for his views, it still must be seen.