In a series of social media posts Thursday, President Trump withdrew his nomination of Make America Health Again influencer Casey Means to be surgeon general, lashed out at Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) for Means’ stalled nomination in the Senate, then announced a new nominee: Nicole B. Saphier, a breast radiologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, a Fox News contributor, and founder of an herbal supplement company who has questioned vaccines.
Trump’s abandonment of Means comes as no surprise. The nomination of the Stanford University-trained doctor has been stalled in the Senate since her February confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which Cassidy chairs. Afterward, it became clear that several Republican lawmakers, including Cassidy, had reservations about her nomination.
Doubts about Means
Specifically, concerns centered around her vaccine views and qualifications. Although she has a medical degree, she dropped out of her medical residency and does not hold an active license, which means, if confirmed, she would serve as the country’s top doctor without being able to practice medicine. During her hearing, she largely tried to skirt questions about vaccines, avoiding explicitly recommending lifesaving shots or contradicting the views of anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Since abandoning her medical career, Means has built a lucrative wellness career, becoming a prominent influencer among Kennedy’s MAHA movement. As such, she has peddled diagnostic tests, herbal remedies, various wellness products, teas, supplements, and “elixirs,” while providing dubious health advice. In the book Good Energy, which she co-authored with her brother and which some consider the “MAHA bible,” there is a chapter titled, “Trust Yourself, Not Your Doctor.”
In a post about Means’ failed nomination, Trump blasted Cassidy, calling him “a very disloyal person,” who “stood in the way of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Nominee, Casey Means.” He then clarified: “I nominated Casey, a strong MAHA Warrior, at the recommendation of Secretary Kennedy, who understands the MAHA Movement better than anyone, with perhaps the possible exception of ME!” Trump ended by thanking Means and saying she would continue to fight for MAHA.
Five minutes after that post, Trump posted again, saying he hoped the “Great Republican People of Louisiana, which I won, BIG, three times, will be voting Bill Cassidy OUT OF OFFICE.”
Saphier’s nomination
Then, nearly 15 minutes later, Trump announced Saphier’s nomination. “Nicole is a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer,” Trump wrote. “She is also an INCREDIBLE COMMUNICATOR,” he added.
Saphier got her medical degree from Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados, according to her LinkedIn profile. She then completed a radiology residency through Creighton University School of Medicine. She joined Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in 2016 and has been a Fox News contributor since 2018. She is also the founder of Drop Rx, a herbal supplement business that develops “clean, thoughtfully crafted tinctures that support focus, calm, balance, and overall wellness.”
Her Instagram account is peppered with dubious wellness claims such as “rosemary and sage decrease Alzheimer’s risk.” In another, she gathered friends for a “turmeric and cinnamon infused anti-inflammatory tea (yes, @drop__rx) … Topped off with a glass of champagne.”
Vaccine views
Given the backlash to Kennedy’s anti-vaccine agenda, Saphier’s views on vaccines are likely to draw the most scrutiny ahead of Senate confirmation. On this front, she appears to walk a fine line—being skeptical of vaccines and critical of vaccination recommendations, while avoiding overt opposition to them. In 2022, she falsely claimed on social media that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was set to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for schoolchildren—something the CDC does not have the power to do; school vaccination requirements are set by the states. Despite being wrong, her claim sparked outrage among right-wing media.
In August, she posted a video criticizing the American Academy of Pediatrics for continuing to recommend COVID-19 vaccines for children—after Kennedy had unilaterally dropped the recommendation in line with his anti-vaccine views.
In an episode of her podcast in March on “vaccine confusion” following Kennedy’s changes to federal vaccine recommendations, Saphier said “vaccines [remain] one of the most effective tools to prevent serious illness.” But she also said, “I did think the original CDC vaccine schedule was somewhat bloated—I thought we could scale back on certain things.” Overall, she did not oppose Kennedy’s changes, but thought they could have been communicated better. In a more recent episode, she expressed uncertainty about whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to drop mandatory flu vaccinations in the military was a bad idea or not.
