By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-09-30 16:36:50 | Updated at 2026-09-30 17:33:21
58 minutes ago
Dr. Nicole Saphier in a file image. Theo Wargo/Getty Images
A Senate panel on Sept. 30 advanced President Donald Trump’s latest nominee for surgeon general.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions voted 12–11 to send Dr. Nicole Saphier’s nomination to the full Senate.
All Republicans voted in favor, while all Democrats voted against.
It’s the first time the panel has advanced one of Trump’s surgeon general nominees this term. A majority of senators opposed previous candidates, prompting them to withdraw from consideration.
The surgeon general role, sometimes referred to as America’s doctor, includes issuing advisories, calling for action, and overseeing the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (USPHS).
Saphier, 44, a cancer specialist based in New Jersey, drew support from some Republicans after she said in her Sept. 16 confirmation hearing that she supports vaccines and does not believe they cause autism.
She holds stock in several vaccine manufacturers, but has pledged to divest if confirmed.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chairman of the Senate committee, has been questioning Trump’s health nominees on their positions on vaccines and related issues. He voted for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. but has in recent months criticized moves by Trump, Kennedy, and other officials on vaccines, including Trump’s executive order promoting the splitting of the measles, mumps, rubella combination shot.
The Senate health panel on Wednesday also advanced the nominations of Timothy Westlake, picked to be assistant secretary for mental health and substance use, and Mary Lazare, for assistant secretary of aging.
It’s not clear when the Senate will take up the nominations. The Senate is scheduled to go on a five-week break starting Oct. 5.
The Senate could also soon vote on the nomination of Chris Klomp to be Kennedy’s top deputy.
Klomp’s nomination was favorably reported by the Senate Finance Committee on Sept. 24. All Republicans on that committee voted to advance Klomp’s nomination. They were joined by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).
He told senators in a recent confirmation hearing that the measles vaccine “is the single most effective public health tool” that we have against measles, that the evidence he’s seen does not show the vaccine causes autism, and that vaccine safety research efforts are important.
Whitehouse told STAT News he voted for Klomp because the nominee, who has been a senior adviser to Kennedy and director of Medicare at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is “good on payment issues.”
