Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cleared a major obstacle on Tuesday as a Senate committee voted to advance his nomination for the role of health and human services (HHS) secretary to the full Senate.
The Senate Finance Committee approved Kennedy’s nomination in a 14-13 vote along party lines after he managed to address concerns raised by Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who was seen as the potential swing vote.
Cassidy, a physician, had previously expressed serious reservations about Kennedy’s qualifications to lead the large federal agency. After questioning Kennedy in two confirmation hearings, he admitted last week that he was still “struggling” with his decision. In addition to serving on the Finance Committee, Cassidy is also the chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Just before Tuesday’s vote, Cassidy posted a statement on X, revealing that he had engaged in “very intense conversations” with both Kennedy and the White House over the weekend. He specifically thanked Vice President JD Vance for his “honest counsel.”
Following the vote, Cassidy told the full Senate that Kennedy had provided him with several commitments, including a pledge to keep the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) advisory committee on immunization practices and to retain statements on the CDC’s website affirming that vaccines do not cause autism.
“Mr. Kennedy and the administration committed that he and I would have an unprecedentedly close collaborative working relationship if he is confirmed,” Cassidy stated. “We will meet or speak multiple times a month. This collaboration will allow us to work well together and therefore to be more effective.”
Cassidy further assured that he would use his role on the panel overseeing HHS to prevent any effort to limit public access to vaccines unless “ironclad causational scientific evidence” was provided and accepted by both the mainstream scientific community and Congress.
Despite Cassidy’s assertion that Kennedy had reassured him about supporting vaccine efficacy, Kennedy’s deep ties to the anti-vaccine movement were evident. Del Bigtree, a well-known anti-vaccine activist and Kennedy ally, was present in the committee room to witness Cassidy’s vote in favor of advancing the nomination.
Kennedy, a member of the famous Democratic political family, previously ran for president in 2024—initially as a Democrat before switching to an independent bid. He later dropped out and endorsed Donald Trump. While campaigning for Trump, Kennedy promoted a “Make America Healthy Again” initiative, criticizing food manufacturers and unhealthy ingredients in the U.S. food supply.
Although lawmakers from both parties supported the idea of improving food safety, Kennedy’s confirmation hearings last week highlighted other major concerns.
Kennedy struggled to answer fundamental questions about Medicaid, a crucial component of the HHS secretary’s responsibilities. Democratic senators raised alarms about potential conflicts of interest if Kennedy were confirmed, particularly noting that he could indirectly benefit financially from lawsuits against a vaccine manufacturer he would be tasked with regulating.
However, the most forceful objections to Kennedy centered on his long-standing rejection of vaccine efficacy. During a committee hearing last week, Cassidy repeatedly challenged Kennedy over his refusal to accept the scientific consensus that vaccines do not cause autism.
“I can say that I’ve approached it using the preponderance of evidence to reassure, and you’ve approached using selected evidence to cast doubt,” Cassidy stated during the hearing.
Cassidy, who is up for re-election in 2026, has already drawn a GOP primary challenger over his vote to convict Trump in the former president’s 2021 impeachment trial.
Just before the committee’s vote, Trump took to Truth Social to express support for Kennedy.
“20 years ago, Autism in children was 1 in 10,000. NOW IT’S 1 in 34. WOW! Something’s really wrong. We need BOBBY!!! Thank You! DJT,” Trump wrote.
The rate of autism diagnoses has indeed increased, rising from approximately 1 in 150 children in 2000 to 1 in 36 today. However, researchers attribute much of this rise to improved screening and evolving diagnostic criteria. Advocates have called for additional research to determine whether other factors may also be contributing to the trend.
Despite overwhelming scientific evidence debunking the alleged link between vaccines and autism, Kennedy has repeatedly promoted the false claim. Autism advocates voiced concerns over his potential confirmation, fearing that his misleading assertions could undermine decades of progress in understanding the condition. They argue that the continued focus on vaccine-related falsehoods has diverted essential research efforts from identifying the true causes of autism.
Kennedy’s position on vaccines played a significant role in Cassidy’s initial hesitation.
For weeks, Kennedy’s supporters, particularly those from the anti-vaccine movement he leads, had mounted a pressure campaign targeting Cassidy. However, another effort emerged simultaneously, urging Cassidy to oppose Kennedy’s nomination.
A source familiar with the situation revealed that over the weekend, a group called Protect Our Care escalated its efforts to block Kennedy’s appointment. The organization arranged calls to Cassidy’s office and launched digital advertisements opposing his confirmation. Additionally, doctors and other advocacy groups reached out to Cassidy to persuade him to vote no.
Meanwhile, groups associated with the anti-vaccine movement—including Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit founded by Kennedy, and the National Vaccine Information Center—encouraged their supporters to flood Cassidy’s office with calls and emails demanding that he back Kennedy’s nomination.
During one of Kennedy’s confirmation hearings last week, Cassidy acknowledged the overwhelming response from Kennedy’s supporters.
“My phone is being blown up,” Cassidy said at the hearing. He noted that Kennedy’s followers exhibited “tremendous trust” in him—sometimes even more than they trusted their own doctors.
“The question I need to have answered is what will you do with that trust?” Cassidy asked Kennedy.
After the hearing, anti-vaccine groups mobilized further. Through newsletters, social media posts, and online broadcasts, they identified Cassidy as the biggest potential obstacle to Kennedy’s confirmation.
On Thursday’s episode of the online show hosted by the Informed Consent Action Network—an anti-vaccine organization—Bigtree dedicated 25 minutes to discussing Cassidy, urging him to support Kennedy’s nomination.
Now that Kennedy’s nomination has passed the committee stage, it will head to the full Senate for a final vote. The outcome remains uncertain, but the intense debate surrounding his confirmation underscores the deep divisions over his views on vaccines and public health policy.