It didn’t take long for vaccines to come up during confirmation hearings for Surgeon General candidate Dr. Casey Means.
During a Feb. 25 hearing (which is still ongoing), members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee harshly criticized Means’ views on vaccines related to measles, influenza, and autism.
In a series of questions, the committee’s chairman, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), focused on the ongoing measles outbreak in the United States.
“Could you encourage other mothers to get their children vaccinated against measles with the MMR vaccine?” asked Cassidy, who is also a doctor.
“We believe vaccines save lives. We believe vaccines are an important part of any infectious disease public health strategy,” Means said.
When asked specifically if Cassidy would encourage the MMR vaccine, Means said, “I support vaccination. I believe that each patient, each mother, each parent should have a conversation with their pediatrician about the drugs they are putting in their bodies and their children’s bodies.”
When asked a similar question about the flu vaccine, Means reiterated that he wants patients to have “informed consent with their doctor before taking any medication,” adding that informed consent is “part of building trust in public health.”
The current Ministry of Health also supports the idea of informed consent. For example, in recent changes to the childhood immunization schedule, HHS officials withdrew outright recommendations for certain vaccines and instead moved to shared decision-making between parents and health care providers.
Both Cassidy and Sen. Bernie Sanders also asked whether they thought vaccines cause autism.
“The reality is that the autism crisis is on the rise, and it’s having a devastating impact on many families. As a medical community, we don’t know what causes autism,” Means told Cassidy. “I don’t think we should leave anything out until we have a clear understanding of why children are developing this disease at such high rates.”
Many public health groups and doctors across the country have condemned recent changes to language on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website suggesting that vaccines may be linked to autism, despite decades of evidence that vaccines are safe.
Cassidy added that there was “a lot of evidence” that the vaccine was not involved. “Would you not accept that evidence?” he asked the candidate.
“I accept that evidence,” she replied, but added that “the science is never settled” and that it is important to continue investigating what causes autism.
In response to Sanders’ question about vaccines and autism, Means said, “Anti-vaccine rhetoric was not part of my message.”
“I’m not here to complicate the vaccine issue,” she said. “I think it’s important to keep that on the table.”
The idea of re-studying the potential link between vaccines and autism echoes the long-standing sentiment of Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who ordered HHS to uncover the causes of autism.
Means, who was nominated by President Donald Trump to be Surgeon General, was originally scheduled to testify before the HELP Committee in October, but the hearing was postponed after she began labor around that time.
The New York Times previously reported that some of her positions have drawn criticism of her presidential candidacy, including past comments raising skepticism about vaccines.
If confirmed, Means would become the nation’s top physician to lead the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Force, or USPHS Commissioned Force.
What does the Surgeon General do?
The Surgeon General is considered the “nation’s physician,” and his role is to provide Americans with “the best available scientific information on how to improve their health and reduce their risk of illness and injury,” according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Surgeon General’s website adds, “The Surgeon General provides the public with the best available scientific information by issuing Surgeon General recommendations, calls to action, and reports on critical issues and by communicating directly with the public through many communication channels.”
Vivek Murthy previously served as the 19th and 21st Surgeon General under President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama.
Who is Casey Means?
Mr. Means is a Stanford University-educated physician and New York Times bestselling author with a large online following, and has achieved influencer status in certain online wellness fields with a focus on metabolic health and chronic disease prevention. She is also an ally of Department of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a proponent of the MAHA or “Make America Healthy Again” policy.
Means graduated from Stanford Medical School and continued his surgical training as an otolaryngologist (often referred to as an otolaryngologist). However, she left the training program in 2018, according to her LinkedIn profile. Her medical license expired in 2019.
She went on to found Levels, a technology company that monitors blood sugar levels.
This story will be updated as the hearing continues.
Contributors: Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, Kathryn Palmer, Savannah Kuchar, Kayla Jimenez, Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY
