In the days leading up to a pivotal vote on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination to become America's top heath official, all eyes were focused on Sen. Bill Cassidy. And the pivotal issue for the Louisiana Republican was Kennedy's skepticism toward vaccines.

Cassidy chairs the Senate committee that oversees the Department of Health and Human Services. He is also a doctor who is proud of his work to get tens of thousands of children vaccinated against hepatitis B, a disease that can lead to liver failure, cirrhosis and cancer. In a nomination hearing last month, he told Kennedy he was afraid people would die of vaccine-preventable diseases "because of policies or attitudes that you bring to the department."

Yet Cassidy ultimately provided the one-vote margin needed to advance Kennedy's nomination to the full Senate. He said he was swayed by Kennedy's commitments to support the immunization schedules recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, maintain systems used to vet new vaccines and monitor their safety, preserve statements on the CDC website assuring the public that vaccines don't cause autism, and meet with Cassidy "multiple times a month," among other things.

"I will watch carefully for any effort to wrongfully sow public fear about vaccines," said the senator, who is up for reelection in 2026.

https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2025-02-09/a-senator-cassidy-vaccine-concessions-rfk-jr

Was he played?

Yep. Duh.