Dorothy

Cassidy said, “Let’s just take it from the perspective of the parent. Now instead of going to the doctor twice to get their child vaccinated, they have to go six times. Instead of the child getting two jabs, they get six jabs. Instead of mom or dad missing work twice, coming out of their pocket if you will, to take their child to the doctor, they have to miss work or take vacation or personal leave six times. This is inconvenient. It’s going to contribute to an increased loss of income. By the way, instead of the insurance company paying for two doctor’s visits, they’re paying for six, which is going to ultimately drive up premiums, going after affordability. And it will do nothing for things like autism. So, in fact, it will be counterproductive.”

“From the perspective of the parent, now, instead of going to the doctor twice to get their child vaccinated, they have to go six times,” he went on before later adding: “There’s a lot of bad things that will come out of this.”

"Let's just take it from the perspective of the parent why this is a -- why this is just a stupid thing to do. Now, instead of your child getting two shots, she has to get six shots. Instead of ... you missing work to take your child to the doctor two times, you're doing it six times, and instead of the insurance company paying for two visits, it's now paying for six visits," Cassidy, a physician, told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz. "Now this is going to drive up the cost of your life, inconvenience you tremendously, and your child's getting six jobs, six jabs, not two."

Cassidy, a physician and chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said that instead of parents taking their children to get vaccinated twice, they could have to go to a doctor's office six times, potentially missing work for the additional appointments.

“This is why the president’s poll numbers are down, because you’ve lost sight of affordability for the parent,” he continued. “You’ve lost sight of the convenience for the American family. You’ve lost sight of that which is driving higher costs in healthcare — for example, more doctor’s visits.”

"It is wrong on so many levels, and this is frankly why I think the president is accused of losing focus on affordability," Cassidy alleged. "This is working backwards on affordability."

Cassidy, whose re-election bid ended in defeat to a Trump-backed challenger in a Republican primary in Louisiana, has been on the president’s enemies list since 2021, when the senator voted to convict him of “incitement of insurrection” in connection with the US Capitol attack carried out by Trump supporters toward the end of his first presidency.