Ron Johnson will be the most anti-vaccine lawmaker in Congress; he’s the sort of man who says he’s “sticking up for individuals who select to not get vaccinated” whereas claiming with out legitimate proof that 1000’s have died from COVID photographs. This morning, on the Capitol, Johnson walked over to his Senate Finance Committee colleague Invoice Cassidy, a physician and a passionate advocate for vaccination, and gave him an affectionate pat on the shoulder. The 2 of them had simply superior Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to guide the Division of Well being and Human Providers to the Senate ground.
The committee vote, which was held this morning in a room crammed to capability with what gave the impression to be roughly equal numbers of Kennedy’s skeptics and devotees, actually match with the conduct of a compliant GOP. However it was nonetheless shocking in its means, if solely as a result of, till this morning, Cassidy had been so clearly cautious of giving the nation’s highest position in public well being to a distinguished anti-vaccine activist. Ultimately week’s affirmation hearings, he appeared like he may even be ready to forged his vote with the opposition. That didn’t occur.
Whether or not you want Kennedy or not, the hearings confirmed that he lacks the fundamental {qualifications} to carry this workplace. He is aware of little or no concerning the practically $2 trillion behemoth that he can be tasked with working. He flubbed the fundamentals of applications similar to Medicare and Medicaid, and appeared wholly unaware of an vital legislation that governs emergency abortions. The hearings additionally known as consideration to a passel of health-related conspiracy theories that RFK Jr. has floated previously, together with that Lyme illness was developed as a bioweapon, that COVID is “ethnically focused” to contaminate Caucasians and Black folks (and spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese language folks), and that customary childhood vaccinations are damaging or lethal.
As of final Thursday, Kennedy appeared to have unwavering help from the committee’s Republicans, who occupy 14 of its 27 seats—with one notable exception: Cassidy. Previous to taking workplace, the Louisiana senator had personally led a marketing campaign to vaccinate 36,000 youngsters in opposition to hepatitis B. In an interview with Fox Information final month, he mentioned that RFK Jr. is “unsuitable” about vaccines. And in early 2021, Cassidy joined six different GOP senators in voting to convict Donald Trump on expenses of “incitement of rebel.” The physician had voted his conscience earlier than. It appeared potential that he would accomplish that as soon as once more.
Cassidy made no try to cover his skepticism of RFK Jr. throughout Thursday’s listening to. He spoke up at one level to appropriate the file after his Republican colleague Rand Paul labored up the group of pro-Kennedy spectators by disparaging the observe of vaccinating infants for hep B. In a while, he paused to quote a meta-analysis disproving Kennedy’s often-stated perception that childhood vaccines could also be a explanation for autism. (Cassidy additionally defined the idea of a meta-analysis for these within the room and folks watching at residence.) When RFK Jr. cited his personal proof for being skeptical of vaccines, referring to a paper from a little-known journal, Cassidy placed on his studying glasses, peered at his iPad, and reviewed the proof firsthand. On the finish of the listening to, he reported that he’d discovered “some points” with the paper, after which implored Kennedy to disavow mistruths about vaccine security. “As a patriotic American, I would like President Trump’s insurance policies to reach making America and Individuals safer, extra affluent, more healthy. But when there’s somebody that’s not vaccinated due to insurance policies or attitudes you carry to the division, and there’s one other 18-year-old who dies of a vaccine-preventable illness […] It’ll be blown up within the press,” he warned. “In order that’s my dilemma, man.”
Cassidy’s “dilemma” hardly went unnoticed by RFK Jr.’s supporters. Calley Means, a proponent of Kennedy’s Make America Wholesome Once more marketing campaign, mentioned final weekend on The Charlie Kirk Present that MAHA mothers at the moment are “tenting out at [Cassidy’s] workplace.” (I didn’t see any tents or sleeping luggage outdoors his door this morning.) Different MAHA leaders, together with the anti-vaccine activist Del Bigtree, have additionally issued political threats to any lawmakers who may attempt to cease Kennedy’s affirmation. “Anybody that votes in that path, I believe, is admittedly burying themselves,” Bigtree advised me and a gaggle of different reporters final week.
Cassidy, for his half, wasn’t saying a lot about his private deliberations. His solely official social-media put up from the weekend quoted a Bible verse from the E book of Joshua: “Don’t be afraid; don’t be discouraged,” it learn partially. “Be sturdy and brave.”
When he arrived on the committee room this morning, Cassidy was somber. He stared straight forward, his forehead furrowed. He’d been verbose ultimately week’s hearings, however now he mentioned solely a single phrase—“aye”—and left the room. In a social-media put up that went up this morning, Cassidy defined that he’d acquired “severe commitments” from the Trump administration that made him snug with voting sure. Talking in a while the Senate ground, he added that RFK Jr. had promised to “meet or communicate” with him a number of occasions a month, that the Trump administration wouldn’t take away assurances from the CDC’s web site that vaccines don’t trigger autism, and that the administration would give his committee discover earlier than making any modifications to the nation’s present vaccine-safety-monitoring methods. “It’s been an extended, intense course of, however I’ve assessed it as I might assess a affected person as a doctor,” Cassidy mentioned. “Finally, restoring belief in our public-health establishment is just too vital, and I believe Senator Kennedy may help get that performed.”
Even when Cassidy had voted no, his vote could not have mattered in the long run. Underneath regular circumstances, a nomination that bought voted down by the Senate Finance Committee can be useless within the water—however these weren’t regular circumstances. Majority Chief John Thune might nonetheless have scheduled a vote by the complete Senate, at which level Kennedy would have been saved from workplace provided that not less than three different Republicans had joined Cassidy in opposition.
It’s nonetheless not a certain factor that Kennedy can be confirmed by the complete Senate. Different Republicans, together with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, have raised considerations about Kennedy’s anti-vaccine activism. However the odds of RFK Jr.’s defeat are shrinking, and Cassidy’s thumbs-up could at some point be remembered because the mirror picture of John McCain’s thumbs-down from 2017, when that independent-minded senator doomed Trump’s efforts to repeal the Inexpensive Care Act. Confronted with a possibility to make the identical type of stand, Cassidy folded. Now the American public is on the whims of the administration’s guarantees.