Cassidy says he's "very concerned" about possible hepatitis B vaccine schedule change

Washington — Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said he's "very concerned" about a potential change to the hepatitis B vaccine schedule for infants, with a key advisory panel set to meet in the coming weeks.

"I'm a doctor. I have seen people die from vaccine-preventable disease," Cassidy told "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan." "I want to make America healthy, and you don't start by stopping recommendations that have made us substantially healthier."

Cassidy, a physician whose medical practice focused on hepatitis B, noted that because of the recommended hepatitis B vaccine dose at birth, "we have decreased incidence of chronic hepatitis B by 20,000 people over the last two decades."

"The vaccine is safe. It has been established," Cassidy said. "This is policy by people who don't understand the epidemiology of hepatitis B, or who have grown comfortable with the fact that we've been so successful with our recommendation that now the incidence of hepatitis B is so low, they feel like we can rest on our laurels."

The Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, a panel of experts who advise and vote on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine recommendations, is set to meet next month. The draft agenda for the Dec. 4-5 meeting includes discussions of the hepatitis B vaccine, and the meeting could entail votes on recommendations. In September, the panel voted to table a vote on whether to change the pediatric vaccine schedule for hepatitis B to a later date.

Cassidy has previously weighed in on the panel. In June, the Louisiana Republican called for a postponement of the vaccine meeting after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he was "retiring" all 17 members of the panel, before replacing the committee members with his own picks. And in August, Cassidy likewise called for the panel to postpone its September vaccine advisory committee meeting amid a slew of departures from the CDC.

The moves represented breaks with Kennedy, who was confirmed as the nation's top health official only after winning support from Cassidy.

In February, Cassidy delivered the key vote to advance the nomination out of committee after he had expressed misgivings over Kennedy's nomination because of the doubts he had raised about vaccines. But Cassidy ultimately supported Kennedy's nomination, citing "serious commitments" he said he'd received from the administration.

Asked by Brennan whether he regrets his vote to confirm Kennedy, Cassidy said "every reporter asks me that."

"You live life forward," Cassidy added. "Let the day's own troubles be sufficient for the day. And I'll credit the secretary. He's brought attention to things like ultra-processed food that has, frankly, never received this sort of attention before, and people praise him for that. So he and I have publicly disagreed on some matters, but I strongly agree with him on others, and so, so that's how I'll answer your question."

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