This hearing sure did give us a lot to talk about today. In his opening statement, Senator Cassidy told a CDC nominee that anyone who questions whether vaccines cause autism is spreading misinformation. Then he spent the next two minutes unable to correctly name a disease outbreak he was citing as a public health emergency.

"Study after study shows they do not cause autism," he said, presenting it as closed science. It isn't. We all know that.

Cassidy also called it misinformation to question the hepatitis B birth dose, a policy that vaccinates newborns against a disease overwhelmingly transmitted through sexual contact or IV drug use, conditions that no newborn is in. This has been asked and answered. See: ACIP.

The senator wants a CDC leader who won't tolerate "equivocation" on any of this. What he's actually demanding is silence on questions that remain genuinely open.

@delbigtree