Trump’s Pick For Surgeon General Won’t Rule Out Link Between Vaccines and Autism
President Trump’s pick for the position of Surgeon General, Dr. Casey Means, appeared before the Senate on Wednesday, where lawmakers pressed her on her stance on vaccinations, her controversial comments on birth control, and her prior business entanglements.
If confirmed, Means has the potential to become the face of the medical system in the U.S., a position which will give her the power to help influence the American health system to be more in line with the MAHA agenda.
WHO IS DR. MEANS?
Dr. Means is a wellness influencer and entrepreneur. She and her brother, Calley Means, wrote a 2024 book about healthy eating and metabolic health that is widely considered to be the foundational text of the Make America Healthy Again movement.
THE CREDENTIALS: The 38-year-old graduated from Stanford Medical School and ran a functional medicine practice. She is also a long-time and vocal advocate for healthy eating and exercise to a following of nearly a million people on Instagram.
Dr. Means is also an outspoken critic of mainstream medicine. She never finished her medical residency and does not have a medical license to be able to treat patients. She told the Senate Wednesday that she has no plans to renew her license. A chapter of her book is titled, “Trust Yourself, Not Your Doctor.”
President Trump nominated Means to be surgeon general last May. On the same day, the administration withdrew its nomination of Dr. Janette Nesheiwa, following scrutiny about her credentials.
A CLOSER LOOK: MEANS ON VACCINES
During Wednesday’s Senate Hearing, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) asked Means about her stance on vaccines and whether she thinks they’re tied to rising autism rates among American children.
Means wouldn’t rule out a link between vaccines and autism, but added that she wouldn’t call herself anti-vaccine .
“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… until we have a clear understanding of why kids are developing this at higher rates. I think we should not leave any stones unturned," Means said.
When Cassidy noted there is “a lot of evidence showing that they’re not implicated,” Means said, “I do accept that evidence,” but added that “science is never settled.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pushed unfounded claims of a possible correlation between childhood vaccines and rising autism diagnoses among children.
Cassidy has publicly disagreed with Kennedy over the CDC’s drastic changes to the childhood vaccine schedule over the last year.
AMERICA AGREES ON VACCINES, SPLIT ON RFK. JR.
Means’s comments come at the American public remains by and large trusting of giving vaccines to children.
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll of over 4,000 U.S. adults, which closed on Monday, showed that 84% of respondents believed that vaccines for diseases like measles, mumps, and rubella are safe for children.
BIPARTISAN CONSENSUS: While Democrats (91%) were more likely to support vaccine mandates for schoolchildren than Republicans (65%), a strong majority of both parties said they believed vaccines were safe.
The same poll found that 47% of Republicans said that they believe the federal government should offer fewer vaccines to children, compared to only 12% of Democrats.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reduced the number of routinely recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11 in January.
BIRTH CONTROL AND BUSINESS PROCEEDINGS
Means was also asked to clarify her stance on birth control pills during the hearing by Sen. Patty Murray (WA-D). Means had made previous comments that Americans "use birth control like candy."
Means said that while she thinks these medicines should be accessible to all women, "doctors do not have enough time for thorough, informed consent conversations."
"Some of the horrifying side effects of birth control that I have mentioned include blood clots and stroke risk in women who have clotting disorders, who are smokers, who have obesity," Means said.
Senators also questioned Means on her past firm stance against pesticides — a fixture for many American farmers — and her past business entanglements.
RFK. Jr. has celebrated Means’s nomination, with many MAHA supporters applauding Means for challenging the medical mainstream.