Overview
- The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted along party lines on Wednesday to send Nicole Saphier's nomination to the full Senate by a 12-11 margin.
- Sen. Bill Cassidy and other key Republicans backed advancing the nomination after Saphier told senators she supports childhood vaccination and called the MMR vaccine “our greatest tool” for preventing measles.
- During her September confirmation hearing Saphier said she does not believe childhood vaccines cause autism and urged people to get vaccinated, remarks that distinguished her from earlier Trump nominees who drew vaccine skepticism.
- Saphier is a radiologist who directs breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth, is a former Fox News medical contributor, and wrote a 2020 book critical of pandemic-era public-health decisions; the surgeon general role is mainly a public-health spokesperson rather than a policymaking job.
- Her advancement closes a chapter of withdrawn and stalled picks for the post and could shift HHS communication on vaccines and outbreaks, a point reporters emphasized differently with some outlets highlighting her pro-vaccine statements and others noting questions about her public-health experience.