GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy on Trump’s vaccine executive order: ‘Stupid thing to do’

Cassidy said there's "no evidence whatsoever" that vaccines cause autism.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy on Sunday blasted President Donald Trump's executive order last week targeting the childhood vaccine schedule, calling the action "a stupid thing to do."

"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, a physician, told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz. "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."

He continued, "As a physician, but as a parent -- as a human -- I know that all that is wrong for the family."

On Monday, Trump signed an executive order recommending fewer vaccinations for children, as well as splitting up the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine into separate shots. Currently, to be considered fully vaccinated against the three viruses, individuals receive two doses of the combined vaccine, so separating the vaccine would result in needing six shots; the CDC currently recommends all children receive two doses of the MMR vaccine, the first between 12 and 15 months and the second between four and six years old.

Cassidy said the reason the MMR vaccine was combined in the first place was "to make it more convenient for the parent, to make fewer jabs for the child."

"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," Cassidy argued.

In remarks during the Oval Office signing, Trump repeatedly -- and erroneously -- linked the vaccine to autism without evidence. Researchers have done many high-quality studies for years and have not established any connection between autism and vaccines.

In his interview on "This Week," Cassidy emphasized that vaccines do not cause autism.

"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 said.

Cassidy cited Jay Bhattacharya, the current director or the National Institutes of Health, also saying there is "no connection."

"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," he said. "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."

Cassidy played a key role in the confirmation of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy in February 2025. The Louisiana senator expressed serious reservations about Kennedy's history spreading vaccine misinformation, but voted to support his nomination, allowing it to advance out of committee to a vote on the floor. Cassidy said that Kennedy and the White House gave him several assurances related to vaccine policy.

"Mr. Kennedy and the administration reached out seeking to reassure me regarding their commitment to protecting the public health benefit of vaccination," Cassidy said in a floor speech explaining his decision at the time. "He has also committed that he would work within the current vaccine approval and safety monitoring systems, and not establish parallel systems."

"There are guarantees that were given to me and guarantees that were supposedly going to be enforced by the White House, among those were not to affect the [Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices] schedule. So people can draw their own conclusions, but it's pretty evident," he said. "The point is, the American people have been poorly served."

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