AILSA CHANG, HOST:

OK, we wish to flip now to focus a bit extra on that key vote from Republican Senator Invoice Cassidy of Louisiana. As we all know, Cassidy is a medical physician, and he raised deep considerations final week about Kennedy’s previous feedback on vaccines. Cassidy stated that he is fearful in regards to the function these feedback may play in dad and mom selecting whether or not to vaccinate their youngsters.

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BILL CASSIDY: I simply had a good friend textual content me – two youngsters died in an intensive care unit in a Baton Rouge hospital from vaccine-preventable ailments this previous month. So my concern is that if there’s any false word, any undermining of a mama’s belief in vaccines, one other particular person will die from a vaccine-preventable illness. Now, you have acquired a megaphone.

CHANG: Nicely, a bunch of 100 physicians wrote Senator Invoice Cassidy an open letter asking him to denounce Kennedy’s nomination, arguing that Kennedy’s place on vaccines makes him unfit to guide HHS. Jennifer Herricks is the founding father of Louisiana Households for Vaccines, the group that organized that letter. She joins us now. Welcome.

JENNIFER HERRICKS: Thanks for having me.

CHANG: Nicely, thanks for being with us. So let me ask you – how are you feeling about Senator Cassidy’s committee vote in the present day, given the considerations he had beforehand expressed as a doctor, not simply as a lawmaker?

HERRICKS: Yeah. Upset would not appear to actually be the precise phrase however feeling confused proper now however positively past upset.

CHANG: Nicely, actual fast, are you able to simply briefly inform us a bit of bit about your group’s work, Louisiana Households for Vaccines?

HERRICKS: Certain. I might like to. So Louisiana Households for Vaccines shaped in 2022. We noticed, you recognize, there have been a number of payments developing on the state stage with regard to vaccine coverage that had been fairly regarding. And actually, after we had been watching, you recognize, hearings occurring on the state stage, we did not see the voice of on a regular basis households actually represented. And we all know that almost all of households in Louisiana and in different states select to vaccinate. And so, you recognize, we determined to prepare and to assist these households get their voices heard. In 2022, within the state of Louisiana, there have been 39 anti-vaccine payments that went to the state legislature. And, you recognize, we had a number of success that yr. We had been capable of cease 38 of these within the legislature, and one was vetoed by the governor.

CHANG: Let me ask you – simply to return to Senator Cassidy – as a result of he defined his committee vote on the ground of the Senate in the present day, saying that, you recognize, he plans to test in with Kennedy a number of occasions a month if he’s confirmed to be secretary of HHS, that he’ll maintain HHS accountable in his personal place as chair of the Senate Well being Committee. Do any of these private reassurances alleviate any of your considerations about Kennedy being on the helm of that division?

HERRICKS: No, they do not. Mr. Kennedy has a historical past of claiming one factor and turning round and doing one other. He additionally, you recognize, denies issues that he has stated and finished prior to now which have been dangerous and which have brought on direct hurt to households right here in the USA and in different international locations. Samoa is a good instance.

CHANG: Nicely, as a vaccine advocate similar to your self, how do you see your work altering or reshaping below the second Trump administration and below a secretary of HHS, Kennedy?

HERRICKS: Yeah. I believe, you recognize, sadly, we could also be heading in the direction of a time the place we see a few of these ailments that, you recognize, individuals of my technology did not ever – by no means noticed, by no means needed to expertise. And I believe it is going to be extra essential for households and for fogeys to actually begin to communicate up and to advocate for themselves and for his or her youngsters now so greater than ever.

CHANG: Jennifer Herricks is the founding father of Louisiana Households for Vaccines. Thanks very a lot for becoming a member of us.

HERRICKS: Thanks for having me.

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