Heidi Overton, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration, said during a hearing Thursday that the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was “not lethal” and was “safe and effective.”
The comments stand in contrast to remarks Trump made last month at the White House with Overton in the room saying the combined MMR vaccine could be potentially “quite lethal,” without citing scientific evidence.
Senators grilled Overton, a top aide at the White House’s Domestic Policy Council, on whether she would stand up to the president if asked to do something she did not agree with as she seeks to helm the sweeping agency charged with overseeing the safety of drugs, vaccines, tobacco products, the bulk of the food supply and more.
Throughout the hearing, she repeated that the shot is safe and effective but refused to directly answer whether the president was wrong about the MMR vaccine. She sidestepped a question from Sen. Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) on why she didn’t correct the president when he suggested the MMR shot could be lethal.
She also faced tough questioning on mifepristone, a commonly used abortion pill, from both Republicans and Democrats and lawmakers on both sides of the abortion debate. Overton has previously been critical of the medication.
A physician who is board-certified in public health and general preventive medicine, Overton has played a role in major health policy announcements, including praising Trump’s executive order to reduce the number of recommended childhood vaccines as “historic.” But she has maintained a relatively lower profile than other high-ranking former and current health officials.
She will need to win over skeptical senators in her bid to lead the FDA, particularly Cassidy, a physician who chairs the panel and who has expressed deep frustration at the Trump administration’s actions on vaccines.
In his opening statement, Cassidy pointed to Overton’s credentials as a medical doctor, saying that “resonates with me,” but said he has concerns about her nomination.
“You’ve seen patients; you have a deep understanding of the health care system and health policy,” he said. “But I have concerns. You were behind the president in the Oval Office when he signed an executive order to break up the vaccine schedule into more doses.”
Cassidy asked her if there were any vaccines on the market that are unsafe.
“Senator, every vaccine on the U.S. market right now are safe and effective according to the FDA,” Overton said.
Last week, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared before the anti-vaccine group he founded and made multiple claims about vaccines that medical experts say are misleading. Trump is pushing to split the MMR vaccine into three separate single-disease injections, which are not currently available in the United States. Prominent medical associations have said such a move could leave children vulnerable to infectious diseases for longer.
Cassidy asked Overton if she would push back on Trump if asked to do something that runs counter to a pledge she has given the committee.
“Senator, I’ve had robust discussions with the president. I would give him my best advice, and I would follow the statutory requirements for the role of the FDA commissioner,” she said.
Cassidy has repeatedly pressed Trump health nominees on their positions on vaccines; Cassidy was also the deciding vote that paved the way for Kennedy to become health secretary.
Under Cassidy’s questioning last week, Nicole Saphier, Trump’s pick for surgeon general, said that she does not believe the shot to be lethal.
In her opening statement, Overton said she would focus on increasing access to affordable treatments and said that Trump’s direction to her is to “go fast” to remove “slow and prohibitive” requirements for cutting-edge therapies.
She also said she would bring her personal experience to the role, specifically citing seeing disparate health outcomes in tribal communities surrounding her hometown in New Mexico, her surgical training in Baltimore and managing adult-onset Type 1 diabetes.
“I have seen system failures detract from the ability of patients to benefit from the world-leading innovation and medical discoveries available in America,” Overton said.
Trump has praised Overton.
“Dr. Heidi has been a ROCKSTAR in my Administration, where she has worked directly with Secretary Kennedy, Dr. Oz, and team, to deliver on the MOST TRANSFORMATIVE Health Agenda in History,” Trump wrote on Truth Social last month when he announced her selection.
The abortion pill mifepristone, a commonly used abortion pill, was also a flash point in the hearing.
Some Republicans in Congress, including Cassidy, have pushed for the agency to more quickly finish a new review of the medication’s safety, as well as reinstate prior restrictions, such as requiring obtaining the drug in person. Other moderates have cited concerns with changing the rules, and Democrats have blasted the prospect of doing so.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a moderate Republican whose stance on Overton could be key to her confirmation, says she has concerns there is political pressure to revisit the status of mifepristone. She said her state would be in a “very challenging position” if in-person requirements to dispense the medication are put back in place, but she did not ask Overton a specific question on the issue.
The pill has been the center of the most recent legal disputes over abortion, with the focus on whether women in states that ban or restrict abortion can legally access the medication. The Supreme Court in May paused a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that temporarily reinstated the in-person requirement at Louisiana’s request. The FDA approved mifepristone in 2000, and medical providers and legal experts have said there is “robust evidence” showing the pill is safe and effective.
When pressed by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) on whether the label for mifepristone needs to change, Overton said she wouldn’t prejudge an ongoing safety review.
On the other side of the aisle, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), who has been critical of the drug and sought for the FDA to move faster on its review, repeatedly quizzed Overton on mifepristone, and she continued to point to the safety review.
If confirmed, Overton would replace former FDA commissioner Marty Makary, who resigned in May. He had incurred the frustration of White House officials, while his allies have characterized his departure as a matter of principle, saying he was unhappy about efforts to allow the sale of fruit-flavored vapes.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), another moderate who will be closely watched on her position on the nominee, said she has concerns with the agency’s authorization of fruit-flavored vapes for adults 21 and over, saying she believes it will jeopardize the progress in reducing youth e-cigarette use.
“There is a 100% agreement from this administration that we must protect kids from illegal substances and from vapes and from flavored vapes,” Overton said. She added that the agency has to abide by rules centering on whether a product is appropriate for the protection of public health and that adults are using flavors to help them quit smoking.
The selection of Overton has been divisive among supporters of the Make America Healthy Again movement championed by Kennedy. Some MAHA allies say they fear she will not fiercely challenge corporate interests and have said Overton should have stopped an executive order boosting glyphosate, a widely used herbicide. The FDA isn’t charged with evaluating the safety of pesticides, but Overton’s nomination has become emblematic of some of those in the movement’s broader frustrations.
White House officials have, in turn, argued that Overton has been a major advocate for MAHA’s priorities in the administration. They have said she pushed “as many MAHA-minded edits as possible to a mostly-baked” executive order that was “written with national security considerations in mind.”
Ahead of Thursday’s hearing, two former FDA commissioners — Scott Gottlieb, who served in Trump’s first term, and Mark McClellan — endorsed Overton.
“The FDA needs a leader who can turn important health challenges into policy initiatives that the agency can develop and carry out, and who trusts and supports the people implementing them,” the pair wrote in an op-ed in Stat. “Overton has hard work to do but has demonstrated the capacity to be that leader.”
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