HJNO Mar/Apr 2025

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS I  MAR / APR 2025 29 leaves vaccines. Now, Mr. Kennedy and the administration reached out seeking to reassure me regard- ing their commitment to protecting the public health benefit of vaccination. To this end, Mr. Kennedy and the adminis- tration committed that he and I will have an unprecedently close collaborative working re- lationship if he is confirmed. We will meet or speak multiple times a month. This collabora- tion will allow us to work well together and therefore to be more effective. Mr. Kennedy has asked for my input into hir- ing decisions at HHS, beyond Senate-confirmed positions. This aspect of our collaboration will allow us to represent all sides of those folks that were contacting me this weekend. He has also committed that he would work within the current vaccine approval and safety monitoring systems, and not establish paral- lel systems. If confirmed, he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without changes. CDC will not remove state- ments on their website pointing out that vac- cines do not cause autism. Mr. Kennedy and the administration also committed that this admin- istration will not use the subversive techniques employed under the Biden administration, like sue and settle, to change policies enacted by Congress without first going through Congress. Mr. Kennedy and the administration commit- ted to a strong role of Congress. Aside from us meeting regularly, he will come before the Committee on a quarterly basis, if requested. He committed that the HELP Committee Chair, whether it’s me or someone else, may choose a representative on any board or commission formed to review vaccine safety. If he is confirmed, HHS will provide a 30-day notice to the HELP Committee if the agency seeks to make changes to any of our federal vaccine safety monitoring programs, and HELP Committee will have the option to call a hearing to further review. These commitments, and my expectation that we can have a great relationship to make Amer- ica healthy again, is the basis of my support. He will be Secretary, but I believe he will also be a partner in working for this end. If Mr. Kennedy is confirmed, I will use my au- thority as Chairman of the Senate Committee with oversight of HHS to rebuff any attempts to remove the public’s access to life-saving vaccines without ironclad, causational scien- tific evidence that can be defended before the mainstream scientific community and before Congress. I will carefully watch for any effort to wrongfully sow public fear about vaccines be- tween confusing references of coincidence and anecdote. But my support is built on assurances that this will not have to be a concern and that he and I can work together to build an agenda to make America healthy again. We need a leader at HHS who will guide Presi- dent Trump’s agenda to Make America Healthy Again. Based on Mr. Kennedy’s assurances on vaccines and his platform to positively influence Americans’ health, it is my consideration that he will get this done. As I’ve said, it’s been a long, intense process. But I’ve assessed it as I would assess a patient as a physician. Ultimately, restoring trust in our public health institutions is too important and I think Mr. Kennedy can get that done. And as Chairman of the Senate committee with over- sight authority of HHS, I will do my best to make sure that is what we accomplish. I want Mr. Kennedy to succeed in making America healthy again. His success will be tied to the health of our nation. He has the opportu- nity to address the most pertinent issues affect- ing Americans’ health. We also need to reform our health institutions like FDA and NIH. Those, as already been indicated, are my priorities as Chairman of HELP Committee. I look forward to his support in accomplishing this. If confirmed, I look forward to working to- gether with Mr. Kennedy to achieve President Trump’s mission of improving the health of all Americans. Source: https://www.cassidy.senate.gov/ newsroom/press-releases/cassidy-delivers-floor- speech-in-support-of-rfk-jr-to-be-hhs-secretary/