Republican senator who voted for RFK Jr balks at Louisiana anti-vaccine move

Republican Bill Cassidy calls state surgeon general's halt to promotion of mass vaccination a disservice to parents

Bill Cassidy, the Republican US senator, has said his home state of Louisiana's recent decision to cancel the promotion of mass vaccination against preventable diseases is a disservice to parents who want to keep their children healthy.

Nonetheless, before those remarks, the medical doctor-turned-politician who has clashed with Donald Trump joined 51 of his fellow Republicans in voting to confirm anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F Kennedy Jr as secretary of the US's health and human services department. Cassidy had also previously voted to advance Trump's nomination of Kennedy as national health secretary from the committee level to the full Senate.