President Trump’s nominee for U.S. surgeon general cleared a key Senate committee on Wednesday, putting her on a glide path toward a floor vote and confirmation.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted 12-11 along party lines to advance Nicole Saphier.
But Americans will have to wait a while longer to see her confirmed. Because this is the Senate’s final week in session before November, Saphier’s floor vote will not be scheduled until after the midterm elections.
Saphier was not the only nominee to move forward. As part of the same vote, the committee also advanced two nominations for the Department of Health and Human Services.
Timothy Westlake was advanced to serve as assistant secretary for mental health and substance use, while Mary Lazare was advanced to serve as assistant secretary for aging.
Saphier is Trump’s third pick for surgeon general.
She is a radiologist and a former Fox News contributor. She has also built a large following as a health and wellness influencer, amassing hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
The surgeon general’s role is primarily a messaging position, responsible for guiding the American people with public health advice. If confirmed, Saphier would essentially become the nation’s top health spokesperson.
Her confirmation hearing, however, was not without tense moments.
Saphier faced questions about Trump’s changes to the childhood vaccine schedule. Lawmakers also pressed her on whether she would push back on Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Both Trump and Kennedy have suggested a link between autism and the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, a position that has long been debunked.
Saphier declined to openly refute Kennedy, even as HELP Committee Chair Bill Cassidy, R-La., urged her not to equivocate.
The nominee did offer support for the shot itself, saying the MMR vaccine “is our greatest tool for combating measles.”
But when Cassidy asked her directly whether a parent should vaccinate their child with the MMR shot, Saphier would not give a yes or no answer.
The exchange put a spotlight on the vaccine debate that has surrounded the administration’s health agenda, with the Republican committee chair pressing the president’s own nominee for a clear answer on one of the most widely used childhood vaccines.
Despite that pushback, the committee ultimately sent her nomination forward on the party-line vote, clearing the way for the full Senate to take it up.
With the Senate heading out of Washington ahead of November, the final step in Saphier’s path to becoming surgeon general now hinges on the chamber’s schedule once lawmakers return after the midterm elections.
If she wins confirmation at that point, Saphier would step into the role as the country’s leading voice on public health, tasked with delivering health guidance to millions of Americans.
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