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Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., appears on ABC News’ “This Week” on Aug. 16, 2026.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nABC News<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOn 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.<\/p>\n
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.”<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
In his interview on “This Week,” Cassidy emphasized that vaccines do not cause autism.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
Cassidy cited Jay Bhattacharya, the current director or the National Institutes of Health, also saying there is “no connection.”<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
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A medical assistant holds a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine at the pediatric office of Dr. Gary M. Kramer in Coral Gables, Fla., on Aug. 13, 2026. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to overhaul childhood vaccination policy.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nJoe Raedle\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCassidy 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.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
“Was he lying to you?” Raddatz pressed.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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