BATON ROUGE — U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy said Wednesday his decision to approve the nomination of vaccine-skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the nation's health secretary and his criticism of Louisiana for eliminating vaccine promotions don't run counter to one another.

The Louisiana Republican, in a conference call with reporters, said he was confident that safeguards in place — including his leadership of a key Senate committee — would ensure that the Department of Health and Human Services maintains immunization efforts.

"There are guardrails for protecting immunization," Cassidy said. "Now, some people may say guard rails, guard rails; but they're real to me and I think they’re real to the secretary and that’s what’s important."

Cassidy, a doctor, said he demonstrated proper leadership on immunizations.

"I think, if anything, I established moral authority, that it's something that I care about. I’m going to support the president but I’m also going to make sure that the public health of Americans and people in Louisiana are protected," he said.

Louisiana's surgeon general, Dr. Ralph Abraham, this month directed state health officials to stop mass vaccination events. Cassidy last week criticized the move, saying the state shouldn't make families seek vaccination opportunities or wait weeks to see a doctor.

"If you have a vaccine fair, the child can stay in school and the mama doesn’t have to miss work and that next available appointment can be for someone who has a sick child instead of one just going to get their vaccine that they could have gotten otherwise," he said. 

"I spoke to the surgeon general about this this week. He knows this is my position. I’m just on the side of that mama getting her baby vaccinated as soon as she possibly can," Cassidy said.

The state's senior senator also spoke about a measles outbreak that has infected 58 people in Texas and eight in New Mexico. Health officials blame a lack of immunizations in the region.

"What we’re seeing come out of Texas, New Mexico, just one state over; when you make the decision not to get vaccinated, it doesn’t mean your child is not going to get sick. It just means, it means that they’re more likely to get sick and more likely to have a complication," he said.