| Senator Bill Cassidy faced a dilemma. He wanted to support Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s bid to lead the federal health department, but the nominee's years-long commitment to sowing doubt about the safety of vaccines gave him pause. What if, Cassidy asked at a Senate hearing in January, an unvaccinated American dies of a preventable disease under Kennedy's watch? "It'll be blown up in the press," said Cassidy, a physician who spent years treating patients in Louisiana's charity hospital system. "The greatest tragedy will be her death, but I can also tell you an associated tragedy is that it will cast a shadow over President Trump's legacy." In the months since, a burgeoning measles outbreak has claimed the lives of two unvaccinated children in Texas. Kennedy, who has previously repeated the discredited theory that measles vaccination has ties to childhood autism, has vexed public health officials with his inconsistent statements on the best way to prevent the virus' spread. That leaves Cassidy, whose pivotal vote to give Kennedy the job made him the secretary's unofficial minder, in an uncomfortable spot. To win the senator's support, Kennedy had promised to loop Cassidy in on HHS hiring or changes to vaccine guidance and to "meet or speak multiple times a month." It's not clear this is happening. In his first weeks as head of HHS, Kennedy ordered that 10,000 staffers be cut from the agency, and a key vaccine advisory meeting was postponed. Cassidy invited Kennedy to a hearing on April 10 to discuss the HHS reorganization. But that hearing isn't taking place. A spokesperson for Cassidy declined to comment on any exchanges between the senator and the HHS secretary. HHS did not immediately return a request for comment. Yet the two don't appear to be on the same page. On April 6, as news broke of the second measles death in Texas, Cassidy posted on X that "everyone should be vaccinated," adding "top health officials should say so unequivocally b/4 another child dies." Hours later, Kennedy appeared to heed his advice, posting that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is "the most effective way to prevent the spread" of the virus. Cassidy then quote-tweeted his approval of this message. But Kennedy followed up with a post claiming that hundreds of infected children had been "healed" by two unproven medicines. His endorsement alarmed public health officials who warn that promoting alternative treatments to measles can persuade parents to forgo vaccination, putting their children at risk. Cassidy didn't respond to this directly. Instead, he posted the next day that two children had died in Louisiana from whooping cough, "a highly contagious disease that is preventable with a safe and effective vaccine." — Damian Garde | 
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