President Donald Trump announced in May that he was nominating Dr. Casey Means to become surgeon general.
Trump said that Means, a tech entrepreneur and Stanford-educated doctor who has long criticized the exploitative nature of the health care system, has “impeccable ‘MAHA’ credentials” and would help Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “reverse the Chronic Disease Epidemic, and ensure Great Health, in the future, for ALL Americans.”
It became painfully clear over the course of Means’ nomination hearing on Wednesday that some lawmakers are anxious about her MAHA views on vaccines and other profitable pharmaceuticals.
‘Devil’s in the details.’
Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-La.) — whom Open Secrets indicated has raised over $1.3 million from the health professional industry and $712,000 from the pharmaceutical/health product industry in campaign contributions since 2019 — noted that “some [parents] have been scared to vaccinate their children because they’ve been told incorrectly that vaccines cause autism.”
Cassidy asked Means whether she believes “vaccines, whether individually or collectively, contribute to autism.”
Means, who told lawmakers that she thinks vaccines “save lives,” responded, “The reality is that we have an autism crisis that’s increasing, and this is devastating to many families, and we do not know as a medical community what causes autism.”
Means noted that the Trump administration is investigating the matter and suggested that “until we have a clear understanding of why kids are developing this at higher rates, I think we should not leave any stones unturned.”
Cassidy rushed to suggest “there’s been a lot of evidence showing they’re not implicated.”
While Means accepted such alleged evidence exists, she emphasized that “science is never settled.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — who ranks in Open Secrets’ “Top 20 Member Recipients of Money from Pharmaceuticals / Health Products, 1990-2024” — similarly pressed the issue, trying unsuccessfully to get Means to refute Kennedy’s July 2023 assertion “that autism comes from vaccines.”
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Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Image
In her questioning, Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) focused on one vaccine in particular: the hepatitis B shot, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under previous administrations recommended for all American children but as of this year recommends only on an individual basis.
Means has suggested in years past that “hepatitis B vaccine at birth is a crime.”
When Blunt Rochester generalized her concern and asked whether Means thought it was “unethical and dangerous” to hypothetically withhold life-saving vaccines from children, Means noted, “I don’t believe that Dr. Jay Bhattacharya or the HHS would be interested in withholding” them and stressed that the “devil’s in the details.”
Democratic Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who has received over $600,000 from the health professional industry since 2019, grilled Means over her past criticism of hormonal birth control and its overuse — which has been linked to increased risk of breast and cervical cancers and other medical issues.
After Murray concern-mongered over Means’ suggestions that hormonal birth control is consumed “like candy” and poses “horrifying health risks” to women, Means said, “I’m curious if you’re aware of what the side effects of hormonal contraception are.”
Means suggested further that while such medication should be “accessible to all women,” women should be having thorough conversations with their doctors to ascertain “whether they are higher risk for side effects when prescribed the medication.”
Kennedy noted at the time of Means’ nomination that she “will help me ensure American children will be less medicated and better fed — and significantly healthier — during the next four years. She will be the best Surgeon General in American history.”
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