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Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) still can’t quite face the reality of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.<\/span>Laura Brett\/ZUMA<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Back in February,<\/span> Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) went to great lengths to justify his decisive vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Health and Human Services Secretary.<\/p>\n Cassidy, a physician and chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, demanded<\/a>, among other things, that if confirmed, Kennedy would ensure the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website did not edit a webpage stating that vaccines do not cause autism. <\/p>\n Of course, under Kennedy\u2019s leadership, the CDC did just that this week, as my colleague Kiera Butler covered<\/a>: <\/p>\n Among other dubious assertions, [the new webpage] informed readers, \u201cThe claim \u2018vaccines do not cause autism\u2019 is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.\u201d Also, it asserts, falsely, \u201cStudies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Despite Kennedy\u2019s flagrant flouting of this apparent agreement with Cassidy, the senator still<\/em> cannot seem to directly criticize him, or own up to the fact that he played a key role in elevating a conspiracy theorist and vaccine skeptic<\/a> with no medical training to head the country\u2019s health agencies.<\/p>\n On CNN\u2019s State of the Union<\/em> on Sunday, Cassidy refused to face the facts when host Jake Tapper said<\/a>, \u201cDr. Cassidy, he lied to you.\u201d Instead, Cassidy doubled down on the very message that Kennedy is undermining: \u201cVaccines are safe,\u201d he insisted. \u201cThat\u2019s the most important message.\u201d<\/p>\n After Tapper pressed him, asking if he was worried about the impact the CDC website could have on Americans\u2019 decisions whether or not to vaccine, Cassidy conceded that the messaging was a problem, but still refused to name Kennedy as its source or express regret over confirming him. \u201cAnything that undermines the understanding, the correct understanding, the absolute scientifically based understanding that vaccines are safe and that, if you don\u2019t take them, you\u2019re putting your child or yourself in greater danger, anything that undermines that message is a problem,\u201d Cassidy said.<\/p>\n\n