health
Republican Senator Denounces Trump’s ‘Crazy, Stupid’ Claims About MMR Vaccine Safety
Outgoing Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, a medical doctor, voted to confirm anti-vaccine activist RFK Jr as health secretary before speaking out
TL;DR
- Senator Bill Cassidy denounced Donald Trump's claims about MMR vaccine safety as "crazy, stupid."
- Trump suggested replacing two MMR vaccine shots with six separate shots, calling MMR "quite lethal."
- Cassidy argued this change would inconvenience parents, increase costs for insurance companies, and undermine faith in vaccines.
- Cassidy previously voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary, despite Kennedy's history of promoting the discredited theory that vaccines cause autism.
- The CDC website's page on "Autism and Vaccines" was altered after Kennedy's confirmation to include caveats that appear to appease vaccine skeptics.
- Cassidy stated that Trump's commentary would not address the debunked link between vaccines and autism originating from a retracted study.