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Trump's FDA pick Heidi Overton calls vaccines, mifepristone safe and effective in confirmation hearing

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Trump's FDA pick Heidi Overton calls vaccines, mifepristone safe and effective in confirmation hearing

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) today questioned Heidi Overton, M.D., Ph.D., the president's pick for FDA commissioner, in a hearing marked by tightrope-walking on issues like vaccines, abortions, flavored vapes and whether or not Donald Trump is capable of being wrong.

Overton conceded multiple times during the hearing that vaccines approved by the FDA, as well as the so-called “abortion pill” mifepristone, are safe and effective. But she stopped short of admitting that Trump has been wrong when dispensing medical information out of line with what the scientific evidence shows.

The committee will next vote on whether to send Overton’s nomination to the full senate for approval.

Though Overton, currently a policy advisor in the White House, focused mostly on the importance of speeding up drug development in order to compete with China in her opening statement, HELP Chairman Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.) immediately hit her with questions around vaccination.

Cassidy, himself a medical doctor, told Overton that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., had made promises to him about maintaining vaccine access that he then backtracked on.

“If the president asks you to do something that goes against those guarantees you give us today, what will you do?” Cassidy asked.

“I've had robust discussions with the president,” Overton responded.



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