Senate Must Reject Nicole Saphier as Surgeon General, Defend Public Health Urges

WASHINGTON, DC – As Nicole Saphier, President Trump’s nominee to be U.S. Surgeon General, faces her Senate confirmation hearing today, Defend Public Health reiterated its opposition to her nomination. Overall, the group argues that Saphier represents no meaningful improvement over Trump’s two previous nominees, Janette Nesheiwat and Casey Means. 

Dr. Saphier has questioned the need for hepatitis B vaccinations in newborns and criticized the American Academy of Pediatrics when it pushed back on vaccine schedule changes recommended by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s hand-picked advisors, recommending healthy eating over vaccination. She lied about vaccine risks and benefits during a Fox News broadcast, claiming “there have been children who have died from the MMR vaccine” during the West Texas measles outbreak and that the risk of side effects from the COVID vaccine in children was higher than risk from the infection. All of these statements are patently false.

Saphier’s record also includes starting a viral misinformation campaign that the CDC was about to “vote on adding the COVID-19 vaccine to the schedule of childhood vaccines required of students in order to attend school,” a campaign that was amplified by Tucker Carlson. In fact, states, not the CDC, set local school vaccination requirements, something a Surgeon General nominee should have known. 

“Saphier is exactly the wrong person to be Surgeon General,” said Julie Scofield, DPH Coordinating Committee member and former executive director of NASTAD. “She has no background in public health, and it shows. Saphier has argued that ‘personal responsibility’ is key to improving Americans’ overall health – an idea that contradicts the basic tenets of public health, which recognize that our health is affected by many factors an individual simply can’t control. And like so many MAHA influencers, she sells unproven and unregulated supplements online for personal profit. The Surgeon General should be a public health expert, not yet another wellness grifter.”

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Defend Public Health is a volunteer-driven network of public health researchers, healthcare workers, advocates and allies fighting to protect the health of all from the Trump administration's cruel attacks on proven, science-based public health policies. We believe that everyone has the right to what they need for a healthy life, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity.
DefendPublicHealth.org