RFK Jr. made some promises on vaccines to get confirmed. Is he breaking them?

The Trump era is rife with Republicans who abandon their principles in the name of toeing Donald Trump’s line. But few have gambled with those principles recently like Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy.

The Trump era is rife with Republicans who abandon their principles in the name of toeing Donald Trump’s line. But few have gambled with those principles recently like Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy. The chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in February played the pivotal role in confirming a longtime purveyor of vaccine misinformation, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as Health and Human Services secretary. Cassidy did so despite often citing how 30 years of practicing medicine taught him how crucial vaccines are – and despite his very public reservations about Kennedy’s views and motivations on the subject. He also did so at a time when vaccine skepticism has risen sharply on the right, meaning Cassidy’s strongly held beliefs were already losing ground. At Kennedy’s confirmation hearing, Cassidy recalled loading an 18-year-old woman who had hepatitis B onto an ambulance so she could get an emergency liver transplant. “And as she took off, it was the worst day of my medical career, because I thought $50 of vaccines could have prevented this all,” Cassidy said. “That was an inflection point in my career.” Cassidy, who faces reelection and likely a primary challenge in 2026, ultimately gave Kennedy a decisive vote, after obtaining what the senator cast as a series of vaccine-related concessions.