<\/p>\n Ranking member Sen. Bernie Sanders I-Vt. questions Dr. Casey Means during a Senate Health, Education Labor and Pension Committee confirmation hearing for U.S. Surgeon General on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Tom Brenner)<\/p>\n Ranking member Sen. Bernie Sanders I-Vt. questions Dr. Casey Means during a Senate Health, Education Labor and Pension Committee confirmation hearing for U.S. Surgeon General on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Tom Brenner)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Her nomination had languished since her confirmation hearing in late February, even as activists from the MAHA movement orchestrated a push to support her bid by surging phone calls to Republican senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. They had both indicated reservations with the pick.<\/p>\n Means pitched ideas popular with MAHA<\/p>\n In nominating Means last May, Trump sought to hire a close Kennedy ally as the nation\u2019s doctor. The 38-year-old Means, a Stanford-educated physician who became disillusioned with the health care system and pivoted to a career as an author and entrepreneur, promotes ideas<\/a> popular with the MAHA movement, including that Americans are overmedicalized and that diet and lifestyle changes should be at the center of efforts to end widespread chronic disease.<\/p>\n But Means, who did not finish her surgical residency program and doesn\u2019t currently have an active medical license, also had faced scrutiny for her lack of experience and potential conflicts<\/a>. On top of those concerns, senators grilled her in February about Kennedy\u2019s effort to pull back vaccine recommendations \u2014 leading to some contentious moments as Means toed the line between support for vaccines and calling them a decision best made by patients and their doctors.<\/p>\n In her confirmation hearing, Means was repeatedly asked about the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped recommending for all children late last year in a move criticized by scientific and medical groups nationwide<\/a> and currently blocked<\/a> during a lawsuit. Means has raised doubts about the birth dose, posting on social media in 2024 that giving the vaccine to a newborn whose parents don\u2019t have hepatitis B was \u201cabsolute insanity.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr. Casey Means takes her seat at the start of a Senate Health, Education Labor and Pension Committee confirmation hearing for U.S. Surgeon General on Capitol Hill, Feb. 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Tom Brenner, File)<\/p>\n Dr. Casey Means takes her seat at the start of a Senate Health, Education Labor and Pension Committee confirmation hearing for U.S. Surgeon General on Capitol Hill, Feb. 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Tom Brenner, File)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n In another post earlier Thursday, Trump called Means \u201ca strong MAHA Warrior\u201d and also criticized the \u201cintransigence and political games\u201d from GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the chair of the Senate health committee, who is facing a tough reelection this year and who interrogated Means about vaccines during the hearing.<\/p>\n Means\u2019 brother, Calley Means, a health adviser to the Trump administration, blamed Cassidy in a social media post, claiming his \u201cconstant delay tactics\u201d sank the nomination because he didn\u2019t bring Means\u2019 nomination to a committee vote. Kennedy later piled on with his own post claiming Cassidy \u201cdid the dirty work for entrenched interests seeking to stall the MAHA movement.\u201d Cassidy didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Now Trump will try to fill the post a third time<\/p>\n Means is the second U.S. surgeon general pick whose nomination has been withdrawn in Trump\u2019s second term. Trump withdrew his first nominee, Fox News medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat, after questions were raised about her academic credentials.<\/p>\n Saphier, like Means, has questioned whether every child needs to get the hepatitis B vaccine at birth.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t necessarily think it\u2019s necessary,\u201d she said on a podcast<\/a> in September. \u201cMy opinion is if a woman recently tested negative for hepatitis B and they\u2019re living a low-risk lifestyle, no IV drug use, not a sex worker, they don\u2019t have a hepatitis B positive person living in the home, then the newborn probably doesn\u2019t need this vaccine and we can have a conversation about whether or not they should get the vaccine later in life.\u201d<\/p>\n She also has criticized COVID vaccine booster requirements, arguing on a radio show<\/a> in September that they were not always rooted in evidence.<\/p>\n![\"Ranking](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777587194_850_.jpeg\")
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