GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy on Trump’s vaccine executive order: ‘This is just a stupid thing to do’

Senator Cassidy Slams Trump’s Vaccine Overhaul Order as “Stupid”

Tyunews.com – On Sunday, Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy — himself a practicing physician — delivered a pointed rebuke of President Donald Trump’s executive order reshaping the childhood immunization schedule. Speaking to ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz in an interview set to air August 16, 2026, Cassidy dismissed the directive bluntly.

“Let’s just take it from the perspective of the parent why this is a — why this is just a stupid thing to do. Now, instead of your child getting two shots, she has to get six shots. Instead of … you missing work to take your child to the doctor two times, you’re doing it six times, and instead of the insurance company paying for two visits, it’s now paying for six visits.”

Cassidy framed the issue in terms of household economics and parental burden: more clinic trips mean lost wages, higher out-of-pocket costs, and greater logistical strain on working families.

“Now this is going to drive up the cost of your life, inconvenience you tremendously, and your child’s getting six jobs, six jabs, not two.”

What the Executive Order Changes

The order, signed by Trump on Monday, recommends reducing the number of childhood vaccinations and, critically, breaking apart the combined MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) shot into its individual components. Under the current CDC schedule, children receive two doses of the trivalent vaccine — the first administered between 12 and 15 months of age, the second between four and six years. Fragmenting that single product into three separate antigens would multiply the required injections from two to six.

Cassidy noted that the original rationale for combining the three viruses into one formulation was straightforward: fewer needle sticks for the child, fewer appointments for the parent.

“This is why the president’s poll numbers are down, because you’ve lost sight of affordability for the parent, you’ve lost sight of the convenience for the American family, you’ve lost sight of that which is driving higher costs in healthcare.”

The Autism Question

During the Oval Office signing ceremony, Trump repeatedly — and inaccurately — tied vaccination to autism. Decades of high-quality epidemiological research have failed to demonstrate any causal link between vaccines and autism spectrum disorder. Cassidy made clear where he stands on that question.

“There’s no evidence that vaccines causes (sic) autism, which I think is where this is supposed to come from, so it’s stupid policy.”

He pointed to Jay Bhattacharya, the current director of the National Institutes of Health, who likewise affirmed there is “no connection” between immunization and autism. Cassidy added a note of empathy for families navigating an autistic child’s diagnosis.

“We’ve got to have compassion for those families who have a child with autism. Believe me, I’m a doctor. I’ve treated patients. I understand the kind of trauma that this brings to a family.”

In his view, public-health resources would be better directed toward identifying genuine etiologies and prevention strategies rather than chasing a hypothesis he described as “thoroughly disproven.”

“Instead of spending resources, effort, and attention trying to truly — find what is truly the cause (of autism), or how to truly prevent, we’re in this little cul-de-sac of something which has been thoroughly disproven.”

The RFK Confirmation Backstory

Cassidy’s position carries particular weight given his role in February 2025, when he helped shepherd Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation as Health and Human Services Secretary through committee. At the time, the Louisiana senator voiced substantial reservations about Kennedy’s past record of disseminating vaccine misinformation, yet ultimately voted to advance the nomination for a floor vote.

In explaining that decision during a Senate floor speech, Cassidy said Kennedy and the White House had offered him specific guarantees about vaccine policy.

“Mr. Kennedy and the administration reached out seeking to reassure me regarding their commitment to protecting the public health benefit of vaccination.”

Kennedy also pledged, per Cassidy’s account, to operate within existing vaccine-approval and post-market safety-monitoring frameworks rather than constructing parallel regulatory structures. The executive order now on the books appears to test whether those assurances held.