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By Steve Mollman
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Republican Senator Bill Cassidy on Sunday labeled President Donald Trump's childhood vaccine overhaul a "stupid policy," escalating one of the sharpest clashes yet between a GOP lawmaker and the administration over federal health directives.
Appearing on ABC News' This Week, the Louisiana Republican and physician—who has repeatedly defended established vaccine science—criticized the president's executive order directing federal agencies to split the combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine into separate shots and alter appointment schedules for children.
"It's stupid policy," Cassidy said. "It's inconvenient for the parent."
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Cassidy's criticism carries added significance given his role in the confirmation process of Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr., despite prior concerns raised regarding Kennedy's stance on immunization.
Newsweek reached out to the White House and HHS Department on Sunday.
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Cassidy argued that the directives would increase financial burdens, demand additional doctor visits, and subject children to more individual injections without providing scientific benefits.
"Instead of your child getting two shots, [s]he has to get six shots," he said. "Instead of the child getting two visits, you're doing it six times."
The senator also pushed back on repeated claims from Trump and Kennedy Jr. linking vaccines to autism.
As Trump prepared to sign last week's executive order, he said the recommendations relate to “many subjects but including autism in particular,” despite the order itself not referencing it.
"There is no evidence whatsoever," Cassidy said Sunday, citing comments from National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya that there is no evidence linking the two.
In a Senate hearing in February, Bhattacharya said that he has “not seen a study that suggests any single vaccine causes autism."
He stated in the hearing that several studies have established there is “no link” between MMR vaccinations and autism but said other vaccines are “less well studied.”
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Cassidy Rebukes Trump
Cassidy's criticisms echoed concerns he raised last week after Trump signed the order. At the time, the senator argued that combination vaccines reduce doctor's visits, missed work days and costs for families while still protecting children from multiple diseases.
Trump claimed, while signing the order, that he had seen vaccinations "the size of a bottle of soda poured into a little child's body" and suggested spreading out vaccines would be safer for children.
Medical experts have disputed that characterization.
Melissa Stockwell, chief of child and adolescent health at Columbia University, previously told Newsweek that the actual volume of routine childhood vaccinations is dramatically smaller.
Using the current U.S. vaccine schedule, routine early childhood immunizations amount to roughly two teaspoons in total. Even after including school-age vaccines and annual flu and COVID shots throughout childhood, the total reaches only "a couple of tablespoons," Stockwell said.
That contrasts with a typical 12-ounce bottle of soda, which contains about 24 tablespoons.
Stockwell also challenged suggestions that children are overwhelmed by vaccines, noting a routine bacterial infection exposes a child's immune system to far more antigens than all recommended vaccines combined.
The administration's executive order would split the MMR vaccine into separate shots when available and shift several vaccines away from universal recommendations toward a shared decision-making model between physicians and parents.
Experts have warned the changes could lead to delayed vaccinations and lower immunization rates as the country experiences its largest measles resurgence in more than three decades.
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A Rift Over Vaccines
Cassidy's criticism comes against the backdrop of a complicated relationship with Trump and Kennedy Jr.
The Louisiana senator was one of only seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump following the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, and Trump later backed efforts to defeat him politically.
During Sunday's interview, host Martha Raddatz pressed Cassidy on whether Kennedy Jr. had broken promises made during his confirmation process.
Cassidy stopped short of directly accusing the HHS secretary of lying but pointed to commitments he says were made before confirmation.
"There are guarantees that were given to me and guarantees that were supposedly going to be enforced by the White House," Cassidy said. "Among those were not to affect the ACIP [Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices] schedule."
Broader Political Implications
As the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Cassidy's dissent highlights growing friction within the Republican Party over the "Make America Healthy Again" platform. With his current Senate term concluding in January after losing his primary to a Trump-backed challenger, Cassidy faces fewer political pressures than colleagues seeking Trump's endorsement, allowing him to voice public opposition regarding vaccines.
And by tying the issue to affordability, parental convenience and public trust, Cassidy suggested the political costs could extend beyond public health.
"This is why the president's poll numbers are down," he said Sunday.
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Contact Newsweek editor for this story: Anthony Murray.
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