Bernie Sanders demands Bill Cassidy hold a hearing to debunk RFK Jr.’s vaccine claims
WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders is demanding that Senate Health Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy hold a hearing to set the record straight that there is no link between vaccines and autism.
Cassidy, R-La., a physician, has been outspoken about his belief that vaccines are “safe and effective and will not cause autism.”
But in a letter shared exclusively with NBC News, Sanders, I-Vt., said Cassidy must counter statements by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that have undermined public confidence in vaccines and raised questions about their link to autism. Cassidy’s vote was decisive in confirming Kennedy.
“The reality is that since Secretary Kennedy has been in office, he has continued his long crusade against vaccines and his advocacy of conspiracy theories that vaccines cause autism – all of which have been repeatedly rejected by scientists,” Sanders wrote.
Sanders is Cassidy’s counterpart as a ranking member of the powerful Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Sanders pointed out that Kennedy fired all 17 members of a key federal vaccine advisory committee and replaced them with members of his own choosing, including several appointees who promoted a link between vaccines and autism.
Kennedy separately ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to change a web page that once claimed vaccines do not cause autism to suggest, without evidence, that health officials “ignored” possible links between vaccines and autism. The CDC kept the statement “Vaccines do not cause autism” on the webpage, but added an explicit dig at Cassidy with an asterisk indicating she was only there because of a promise to the health committee chair.
Kennedy also claimed there was a link between Tylenol and autism and joined President Donald Trump in encouraging pregnant women to avoid the painkiller. Orders of Tylenol for some pregnant women plummeted after Trump’s warning, although a research analysis in January found no link between use of the drug during pregnancy and autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders.
Pediatricians and vaccine experts have long said that no credible research has ever suggested a link between autism and vaccines.
Sanders called on Cassidy to hold a hearing with “leading scientists, doctors and public health experts” to “review the existing body of research on autism, discuss how federal agencies evaluate scientific evidence, and clarify what is known.”
Cassidy did not respond to a request for comment on the letter.
Cassidy faces a tough re-election campaign in November. He has a primary challenge from Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., who has the backing of the Make America Healthy Again PAC, led by Kennedy ally Tony Lyons.
Cassidy invited Kennedy to testify before the health committee on September 18 for an oversight hearing, but six months later that hearing has not occurred. Since that invitation, Cassidy has repeatedly told NBC News that a date for the hearing is being worked out.
