Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy just shrugged off any responsibility he has for allowing the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary after Kennedy after it was revealed that Kennedy changed the CDC website to reflect his dangerous anti-vax views.

Cassidy made an appearance on this Sunday's State of the Union on CNN, and here's the exchange after host Jake Tapper played a video of some of the back and forth between Cassidy and Kennedy during his confirmation hearing.

TAPPER: Dr. Cassidy, he lied to you.

CASSIDY: Well, first let me say what is most important to the American people, speaking as a physician, vaccines are safe. As has been pointed out, it's actually not disputed. It's actually quite well proven that vaccines are not associated with autism.

There's a fringe out there that thinks so, but they're quite a fringe. President Trump agrees that vaccines are safe. And if you look at the consequences of not taking vaccine, there's two children dead in West Texas from not taking a measles vaccine. There's a woman pregnant who lost her child because she was exposed to someone who did not have the measles vaccine. There's children in my state who died from things like pertussis recently because they weren't vaccinated.

So discuss this with your doctor. Vaccines are safe. That's the most important message.

TAPPER: Earlier this year, you started sounding the alarm about those two unvaccinated children in Texas who died. And obviously measles is a vaccine preventable illness. How worried are you that this changed to the CDC's website and secretary Kennedy's other actions are going to result in more dead Americans?

CASSIDY: Anything that undermines the understanding, the correct understanding, the absolute scientifically based understanding that vaccines are safe and that if you don't take them, you're putting your child or yourself in greater danger, anything that underlines that message is a problem.

And so I want to make America healthy again. I want to, I agree with President Trump, vaccines are safe. And so I just encourage everybody, if you've got a question, discuss with your physician. I will say, Jake, I've never met any parent who wasn't a pediatrician as well, who actually reads the CDC website.

So the most important thing is discuss it with your, with your child's physician or your physician. Vaccines are safe. They're indicated. Please get vaccinated. Protect yourself. Make your family healthy.

TAPPER: You were the deciding vote that allowed R.F.K. Jr. to ascend to the role of health secretary. Here is how you explain that vote on the Senate floor.

CASSIDY: It confirmed he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations without changes. CDC will not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.

TAPPER: So, you just said that you've never met anybody other than pediatricians who read the CDC website, but back then you were talking about the importance of the CDC website. Watching this, did you give our RFK Jr. too much credit? What are you going to do now to push back against this?

CASSIDY: Well, first, I'm not minimizing these changes. They are important because you need to send the consistent signal that vaccines are safe. I'll just say that. And again, President Trump agrees that vaccines are safe and important, and that that should not be undermined.

If you... if you... as we both know, there's an asterisk associated with that change on the website. The asterisk reflects a conversation he and he and I had. But I'll leave it at that.

The fact is, the scientific community agrees that vaccines are safe. Talk to your physician. Keep your family safe. Don't be misled. And don't let your child be one of those who dies who wouldn't have died had your child been vaccinated. That's all I can say.

Speaking as a physician, as a parent, and a grandparent, there are things more important than ideology. There's things that are important as your child's health. Get your child vaccinated.

Tapper pointed out that this "goes way beyond just vaccinations" and read a portion of a scathing article from JFK's granddaughter Tatiana Schlossberg, who blasted Kennedy for the damage he's doing to cancer research as well, and continued to press Cassidy on his unwillingness to criticize Kennedy. Cassidy did his best to try to minimize the damage Kennedy is doing and his responsibility for allowing him to be confirmed, while lying that that wasn't exactly what he was doing.

TAPPER: R.F.K. Jr., according to his own family, is causing real damage to the health of the United States of America. You don't seem willing to criticize him by name at all, unlike members of his family.

CASSIDY: So, Jake, clearly, clearly, this conversation, you want me to be on the record saying something negative, and of course it makes news if Republicans spite each other. I get that.

TAPPER: I don't even know that he's a Republican.

CASSIDY: Rather than focusing upon... or whatever. But you know. But I'm all about how do we make America healthy? And I speak as a physician. And I don't think the tit for tat is what people are about. I don't think the inside the Beltway, oh, he said, she said, he said, he said. I think what's important, Jake, and what we should be focused on right now, is how do we make America healthy?

You mentioned healthcare costs. Right now, some insurance policies are so expensive that people cannot afford the deductible so they don't get the needed care. That actually has more of an impact upon making people healthy than The New Yorker essay, which is a good essay, I understand. I'm not minimizing.

But if we're actually going to speak about what's important to the American people, get vaccinated, discuss with your physician, but also how do we help it so you can afford the health care? And so, so Jake, I know it's titillating, but I think we need to move beyond the titillation and actually what matters to the American people.

TAPPER: I'm going to turn to your health care plan because I know you really want to talk about it, but I'll just say this isn't about titillation. This is about the fact that you are the chairman of the health committee, and you voted to confirm somebody that by all accounts from the medical and scientific community and his own family, including his dying cousin, this health secretary is actually making America less healthy when it comes to vaccines and studies.

And with that, Tapper just moved onto allowing Cassidy to lie about who their health care proposals benefit.

Cassidy knows full what he did was wrong, but he's too afraid of Trump to cross him.