WASHINGTON — Sen. Bill Cassidy, the chairman of the Senate health committee, voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the nation’s health secretary last month on the condition that Kennedy, a longtime vaccine critic, keep him apprised of agency actions, especially those related to vaccines.
On Thursday morning, Cassidy said, the two had breakfast to discuss Kennedy’s plans to lay off 10,000 Health and Human Services Department employees. And while the meeting took place two days after a report that the department had tapped vaccine critic David Geier to conduct a study looking for a link between immunizations and autism, the Louisiana senator said that issue did not come up.
Cassidy said it’s not clear that Kennedy has actually chosen Geier for the study. “Let’s get it confirmed first and then we can talk about it,” he said.
“The conversation was pretty full otherwise,” he added.
During a confirmation hearing for Jay Bhattacharya as director of the National Institutes of Health — at which the subject of any link between vaccines and autism came up — Cassidy was insistent that the question of any link had been “exhaustively studied” and debunked. He argued it didn’t make sense to keep “plowing over ground that has been plowed over,” particularly given that the NIH has limited resources.
News that Geier, a major player in the anti-vaccine community, may have been tasked with carrying out an autism study under HHS’ auspices stunned vaccine experts.
Geier does not have a medical degree and was disciplined by the State of Maryland’s Board of Physicians for practicing medicine without a license. Asked about any appointment, he referred The Washington Post, which first reported the news, to Kennedy.
An email STAT sent to a David Geier listed as a “senior data analyst” in the HHS staff directory drew no response.
Cassidy is a physician who ran large-scale immunization programs before becoming a senator. Without his vote, Kennedy would not have passed out of the committee that Cassidy chairs.
The senator said he was eventually swayed to vote in favor of Kennedy by an array of commitments he made, including some to protect federal support of vaccines.
On Thursday, Cassidy said in a social media post that he was “interested in HHS working better” and would “look forward to hearing how [the HHS] reorganization furthers these goals.”
