Berkeley Lovelace Jr. is a health and medical reporter for NBC News. He covers the Food and Drug Administration, with a special focus on Covid vaccines, prescription drug pricing and health care. He previously covered the biotech and pharmaceutical industry with CNBC.
The White House is calling on the Senate to confirm Dr. Casey Means as U.S. surgeon general 'without further delay,' even as President Donald Trump signaled uncertainty about her path forward. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that he didn't know how Means was faring in the nomination process more than a month after her Senate confirmation hearing.
'We have a lot of great candidates,' he added. In a statement late Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Means' qualifications and said Trump continues to support her nomination. “Dr. Casey Means has spent her entire career as an entrepreneur, bestselling author, and researcher bringing attention to America’s chronic disease epidemic and how our healthcare system is failing the American people,” Leavitt said. “The President stands by her and the Senate should move to quickly Dr. Means as our next surgeon general without further delay.” There is still no clear timeline for a committee vote. Means must first be approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee before her nomination can advance to a full Senate vote. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the committee's chairman, declined to say when the panel might act. 'No comment on Casey,' Cassidy told NBC News on Thursday. Hours later, the Senate adjourned for a two-week Easter recess. If confirmed, Means — who built her career criticizing the role of unhealthy foods in chronic diseases — would be an ally of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the head of the 'Make America Healthy Again' movement. Her brother, Calley Means, is also a White House adviser. Means was a campaign adviser during Kennedy’s presidential bid, and many of her core messages are now central planks of Kennedy’s agenda. She has faced criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for her controversial stances on vaccines, birth control and pesticides — subjects she has previously depicted as dangerous to human health. She often sidestepped questions about these issues at her Senate confirmation hearing in February. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, asked about Means' past skepticism of hepatitis B shots for newborns, telling Means: “I need to try to understand your thinking on that, given the medical consensus that this vaccine prevents this serious liver disease and liver cancer.” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, asked Means about her past use of psilocybin, a hallucinogen that is illegal in the U.S., with exceptions for supervised treatment in Oregon and Colorado. “It’s the link to illicit drugs that I’m having a hard time with,” Collins said. Spokespeople for Murkowski and Collins did not respond to requests for comment. Means would be an unusual pick for surgeon general, lacking both an active medical license and a completed residency. Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who served during Trump’s first administration, has argued that not having an active license should disqualify Means from the role, since surgeons general oversee the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps — a federal branch that requires its own officers to maintain active licenses in their respective fields. “My main concern about Means isn’t about her politics or positions on health matters ,” Adams wrote last week on X. “Her not having an active license is a failure to meet a basic operational requirement for the job.”
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