Despite concerns about his history promoting a debunked link between autism and vaccines, a key U.S. Senate panel advanced Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to become the nation’s health secretary.

The Senate Finance Committee voted 14 to 13 this week along party lines to send Kennedy’s nomination to the full Senate, which will have final say over whether he will take over the Department of Health and Human Services.

The vote came after Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said he would back Kennedy despite expressing reservations just days earlier over his anti-vaccine past. Kennedy has spent years blaming the increase in autism prevalence on childhood vaccinations.

During confirmation hearings last week, Cassidy, a medical doctor, unsuccessfully pressured Kennedy to concede that there is no link between autism and vaccines. But, Cassidy said he ultimately decided to back Kennedy after receiving “serious commitments” from the Trump administration.

Specifically, Cassidy indicated that he’s been assured that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will not remove statements on its website highlighting that vaccines do not cause autism. Kennedy also committed to “work within current vaccine approval and safety monitoring systems and not establish parallel systems” and “maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations without changes,” Cassidy said.

While Kennedy’s nomination is not guaranteed, Cassidy had been viewed as a significant question mark and his support will ease the path to full Senate confirmation.

President Donald Trump has said that he’s “open to anything” when it comes to investigating the increase in autism prevalence in recent decades and he’s suggested that Kennedy would have leeway to look into the causes of autism including the long-discredited connection between autism and vaccines.

“20 years ago, Autism in children was 1 in 10,000. NOW IT’S 1 in 34. WOW! Something’s really wrong. We need BOBBY!!! Thank You! DJT,” Trump posted to social media just before the Senate committee met to vote this week.

In fact, the latest CDC estimates suggest 1 in 36 children have autism compared to 1 in 150 in 2000.

Kennedy’s nomination is raising concerns for several national autism and disability organizations. A dozen groups including the Autism Society of America, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities and The Arc of the United States put out a statement ahead of Kennedy’s confirmation hearings saying that vaccines do not cause autism.

“Perpetuating myths linking vaccines to autism does a disservice to the autism community by distracting from their pressing healthcare needs,” the groups said.

Instead, the organizations indicated that policymakers should focus on actual needs in the autism community such as access to health care, mental health services, education and more.

“The Autism Society is still very disturbed that Mr. Kennedy has not clearly stated that vaccines are not linked to autism,” Christopher Banks, president and CEO of the Autism Society of America, said after Kennedy’s nomination advanced. “Any direction to reinvestigate debunked myths, will reverse progress, and deter funding that addresses healthcare inequities and services that the autism community needs now.”