Republican Senator Bill Cassidy has blamed the Trump administration's vaccination policies for a rise in measles deaths in the United States, where the preventable disease had previously been all but eliminated.
Cassidy, a physician who chairs the Senate Health Committee and represents Louisiana, said on Wednesday that the government must appoint officials to key public health positions who will make decisions based on science rather than political ideology.
"To suffer from any disease is awful, but to suffer one which is avoidable, that's even worse," Cassidy said.
The US is currently facing its most severe measles outbreak in more than 35 years. Scientists and public health experts attribute the surge to increasing scepticism toward vaccines that have helped largely eliminate diseases such as measles.
Cassidy stated that three people have died from a measles outbreak in Pennsylvania, with a fourth death still under review.
Members of the Trump administration, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the president himself, have been criticised for promoting debunked claims linking vaccines to autism.
The Republican senator pressed Dr. Nicole Saphier, the Trump administration's nominee for surgeon general, for a direct answer on whether she believes the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine causes autism.
Saphier initially stated that she had "not seen reputable evidence" that vaccines cause autism. Under further questioning from Cassidy, who called her answer a "bit of an equivocation", she said the MMR vaccine was "our greatest tool for combating measles" and that she did not believe childhood vaccines cause autism.
The health committee is currently weighing Trump's nominations of Saphier for surgeon general, along with Chris Klomp for deputy secretary of Health and Human Services and Dr. Timothy Westlake to lead the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. All three require Senate confirmation.
The US has not had a surgeon general since January 2025. Trump's two previous picks faced opposition and questions in the Senate over their qualifications. Saphier is a radiologist and former television news contributor.
Cassidy lost his Republican primary election in May after attracting Trump's anger over his vote to impeach the president in 2021. He has since become an outspoken Republican critic of the administration's approach to vaccines and public health.
