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Portrait of Jay StahlJay Stahl
USA TODAY
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, who has repeatedly criticized President Donald Trump’s administration over health issues, slammed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over a website related to autism and vaccines.
The gastroenterologist during a July 26 interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” called out the health authority for saying online that it’s “not an evidence-based claim” that vaccines don’t cause autism.
“That is what gives some parents hesitancy regarding having their children vaccinated,” Cassidy told host Dana Bash, who asked if the site was a “good faith attempt to stop spreading what you call ‘misinformation about vaccines.'”
The health hawk told Bash the claims will make parents hesitant to do “the right thing, which is to have their child vaccinated.” Cassidy continued, telling Bash that “it’s been firmly established vaccines do not cause autism.”
Cassidy, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, is an outspoken advocate for vaccines. When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was being considered as the nation’s health secretary last year, Cassidy asked him to “come out unequivocally” and say vaccines are safe and they do not cause autism.