Cassidy Challenges Trump's NIH Pick on Vaccines

On Wednesday Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy questioned President Trump's pick for National Institutes of Health (NIH) director on a controversial and disproven alternative medicine theory. Cassidy once more put to rest a decades-old myth about the side effects of the Measeles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine in light of a recent passing due to an outbreak of measles.

MMR Vaccines were first falsely identified to cause autism in 1998 by medical fraudster Andrew Wakefield

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya was Picked to Direct the NIH

Born in India in 1968, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya holds a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in economics, as well as a M.D. He is currently President Donald Trump's pick to be the Director of the National Institutes of Health, alongside Robert F. Kennedy, a controversial figure in his own right. It's only fitting the man who was picked to operate the NIH with a man as contentious as R.F.K. has an equal amount of controversy in his past. Dr. Bhattacharya first rose to infamy during the 2020 lockdown for suggesting public health ideas counter to the standard.

Bhattacharya was recently caught in another stir of controversy for suggesting merit to a theory that has been debunked for decades. That theory is the idea that the MMR vaccine causes autism to develop in young children.

In September of 2024, Dr. Bhattacharya was a guest on the Dad Saves America podcast when he was asked bluntly "Do vaccines cause autism?"

"I don't believe the MMR vaccine causes autism," Dr. Bhattacharya told the show's host but added that there has not been a study that fully proves there is no link since the studies he has seen did not have subjects picked at random, therefore leaving those studies with less than 100% credible outcomes. Dr. Bhattacharya did say however he cannot rule out that another vaccine may have caused the uptick in autism diagnoses around the world over the last several decades.

(Photos by Win McNamee/Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Dr. Cassidy Questions Dr. Bhattacharya

Wednesday saw Dr. Bhattacharya sit in front of the Senate for his confirmation hearing, giving the Senators a chance to decide whether the nominee is a worthy fit. Senator Bill Cassidy did not let Dr. Bhattacharya's autism comments go unnoticed when he said "I've been told that you have said we need to invest NIH resources at looking at the link, a possible link between measles vaccine and autism."

Dr. Bhattacharya was quick to clarify "I fully support children being vaccinated for diseases like measles that can be prevented with the vaccination efforts..." before also adding "...I don't generally believe that there is a link based on my reading of the literature."