Bill Cassidy: A Profile in Cowardice

More than a decade ago, a Republican House member named Bill Cassidy I took part in the ribbon cutting at Westdale Middle School in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. The celebration was to celebrate the renovation of three local school-based health centers, made possible by a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which was secured with Cassidy’s support. In the ribbon cut, Cassidy spoke about how she helped her get the hepatitis B and flu vaccinations at schools in East Baton Rouge.

The head of the school’s local nonprofit, Health Center, spoke lovingly about the lawmakers’ enthusiasm for the vaccine, saying, “I remember the Bill.” [Cassidy] He called me from the Louisiana Senate floor while he was in the state legislature and asked if I knew about flu vaccination studies from a Texas doctor. I just read the same article myself. So, with Bill’s help, we began receiving the flu vaccination at East Baton Rouge School the same year. “Cassidy worked at a Louisiana public hospital for 30 years, and he was motivated by the power of vaccination, particularly his own clinical experience. Near the woman he cared for Due to liver failure associated with this preventable viral hepatitis.

Cassidy is currently a Louisiana Senator and chair of the powerful Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. He is more influential than ever, and perhaps he hasn’t forgotten the importance of vaccinations. So when Donald Trump appointed longtime anti-vaxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the Health and Human Services Department post earlier this year, Cassidy was in the best position to push back.

We all know what he did instead. After expressing his reservation on the nomination, Cassidy looked back and created accommodation with Kennedy and secured “.Important commitmentsHe fulfilled his concerns about Cassidy’s alleged vaccine policy. He then proposed an important YES vote to RFK Jr., setting vaccine deniers for full Senate approval.

It’s June now. All the promises Kennedy made to Senator Cassidy are broken. The Advisory Committee on Disease Control and Prevention and Vaccination Practices (ACIP) It’s purged and That member has been exchanged It uses prominent anti-vaxxers with obvious conflicts of interest. Meanwhile, fellow U.S. Food and Drug Administration travelers Vinai Prasad and Marty McCurry troika and Jay Batacharya of the National Institutes of Health, It was changed unilaterally Vaccination policy has been proposed in the endurance around ACIP, significantly surprising recommendations for pregnant women and children to take the vaccine. Flying face Scientific evidence and the clinical reality of diseases in these populations.

Like Katherine Woo Atlantic Ocean I said, We are currently in the anti-VAXX era of America.. This is a gasoline-on-fire moment as measles and pertussis occur across the country. As my colleague at Stanford suggested, Measles may come back The endemic nature of the US, and RFK Jr. and his “Mini-Me” need to further erode vaccine scope for other diseases.

We all knew who RFK Jr. was. So did Senator Cassidy. But he voted for him. Now, when asked about what’s going on,
Cassidy runs away from reporters Following the Senate corridors, he has refused interviews on the subject since January.

RFK Jr.’s uncle wrote a book once called A courageous profileIt consists of a short biography of a US senator who defeated the party to do the right thing and suffered the consequences. JFK’s books were popular. The course and integrity among politicians appeared to sell well in 1956.

If anyone wants to write it, I would suggest that Bill Cassidy is chapter 1 Co-disease profile. He can escape from reporters, but he cannot hide from history. How easily do lifelong vaccination defenders surrender to the anti-vaxaxer king? In the wake of his vote, and after all, after all, in these short months, Bill can’t even rally himself to fight back, even for a moment. Does he think of the children of East Baton Rouge? That young woman nearly lost her life to HBV? Of course he does, but he made the decision. It is to put his own political future ahead of the millions of children in this country suffering from the consequences of his coronavirus.

This is a special kind of cravenness. Susan Collins and Lisa Markowskis of this world always express concern for the bad things and then vote for their party. But Bill Cassidy has it
Living with specific services In addition to setting up a vaccination program in his state, he has now established a makeshift hospital at the Baton Rouge K. Mart, who has served the poor for over 20 years and uninsured at Earl K. Long Medical Center, and has set up a makeshift hospital at Baton Rouge K. Mart, abandoned after Hurricane Katrina. Now he will link to RFK Jr. forever.

Cassidy opened the door and put in RFK Jr.It’ll be wildAbout health. For a good doctor, it’s a pretty sudden fall. Sadly, we have not yet hit the bottom of the rocks in this new anti-Vax era. Cassidy’s reputation must also decline further.