Casey Means Faces Senate Grilling on Vaccines and Medical License at Surgeon General Hearing

Casey Means, Trump's nominee for US Surgeon General, faced sharp questioning at her February 25, 2026 Senate HELP Committee confirmation hearing over her unlicensed medical status, vaccine skepticism, and ties to RFK Jr. Means dropped out of surgical training after graduating Stanford medical school and her medical license lapsed in January 2024. She declined to affirm that flu vaccines reduce hospitalization and refused to rule out a vaccine-autism link despite decades of contrary scientific evidence, leaving her nomination stalled with insufficient votes from both parties.