FDA Commissioner Nominee Grilled on Vaccines, Abortion

Trump’s FDA commissioner nominee, Dr. Heidi Overton, broke publicly with the president Thursday, telling senators the MMR vaccine is “not lethal,” contradicting a past Trump claim, and calling it safe, effective and “our best tool right now in the public health response to the measles outbreak.”

Senators press her on vaccine policy

Overton testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, whose members will vote on whether to advance her nomination. Chairman Bill Cassidy, a Republican and doctor from Louisiana, pressed her on her role in Trump’s executive order scaling back childhood vaccine recommendations, which prioritizes splitting the MMR vaccine into individual doses given at separate visits, an approach experts say would reduce vaccine uptake and worsen the nation’s measles outbreak, now at its highest level since the disease was declared eliminated in the U.S.

“Are there any vaccines on the US market right now which are unsafe?” Cassidy asked. “Every vaccine on the US market right now are safe and effective, according to the FDA,” Overton replied. Asked what she would do if Trump asked her to act against the science, she said she would “give him my best advice” and follow “the statutory requirements for the role of FDA commissioners regarding individual product determinations for safety and efficacy.”

A behind-the-scenes path to the nomination

Overton has served as deputy assistant for domestic policy in the Trump administration, overseeing White House health initiatives. She would fill a vacancy left by Dr. Marty Makary, who resigned in May under pressure; acting commissioner Kyle Diamantas reportedly turned down the permanent role even when Trump asked directly.

A physician who trained at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and completed a surgical residency at Johns Hopkins, Overton is board-certified in public health and general preventive medicine and would, at 37, be one of the youngest FDA commissioners ever. She served in Trump’s first administration during the Covid-19 pandemic, later earned a Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and was chief policy officer at the America First Policy Institute, whose alumni also include Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and former Attorney General Pam Bondi.

In her opening statement, Overton disclosed she lives with type 1 diabetes, diagnosed in adulthood, noting that promising cell therapies for the condition have been slowed by an FDA backlog she could help address as commissioner.

An agency in crisis, critics say

As commissioner, Overton would lead an agency of about 16,000 staffers and a roughly $7 billion budget that has lost some 4,600 workers since 2024 amid Trump administration cuts. Cassidy voiced concern about her limited experience: “While I respect Dr. Overton’s experience as a physician, I have strong concerns about her nomination to be FDA Commissioner. Her lack of managerial experience does not prepare her well for leading a large organization that is already dealing with staffing and morale issues,” he wrote on social media.

Dr. Peter Lurie, a former FDA official who now leads the Center for Science in the Public Interest, was blunter, saying the agency has shed thousands of employees, including food safety inspectors, and “is struggling to keep up with food recalls and outbreaks of foodborne illness.” He added: “Despite efforts to frantically re-staff, this is an agency in crisis. This is no time for a commissioner who needs on-the-job training.”

Trump has voiced strong support regardless, calling Overton a “ROCKSTAR” in a social media post announcing her nomination who is “SMART and RESPECTED by all.”

Vaccines, vaping and abortion pill access

Overton also faced questions on flavored vapes, saying she supports protecting children from illegal substances but noting FDA scientists recommended authorizing new flavored vaping products because many adults use them to quit smoking.

She was far less direct on mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortion, which the FDA is reviewing internally amid ongoing litigation. Project 2025, the conservative policy blueprint that has shaped much of the administration’s agenda, calls for restricting or revoking approval of the drug. While at the America First Policy Institute, Overton praised the Supreme Court’s 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade as a “huge victory for life” and authored a brief describing medication abortion as “dangerous to women,” a characterization at odds with decades of evidence the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists cites showing the drugs are safe and effective.

Those positions have already cost her support on the committee. “Heidi Overton is a far-right, anti-abortion extremist who has no business leading the FDA,” said Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, on social media. “I will vote no.”

Asked by Sen. Tammy Baldwin whether the FDA should change mifepristone’s approval conditions, Overton pointed to the agency’s ongoing safety review: “I can’t prejudge the determination of a safety review that is currently ongoing,” she said, adding the issue would be “immediately on my desk” if she’s confirmed. Baldwin was unconvinced: “I haven’t been encouraged by what I’ve seen, but I urge you to indeed follow the well-established science on safety and efficacy of mifepristone.”

Cassidy noted the FDA once required in-person visits and ultrasounds before doctors could prescribe abortion pills, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said reinstating in-person dispensing requirements would hurt women’s access in her state, where care can already be hard to reach.

Pressed on independence from Trump

Asked repeatedly whether she would ever tell Trump he was wrong, Overton declined to answer directly. “It is the president who sets the policy directions, but he works with all of his advisers to get the best information. My experience has been, he wants to make the best decision and the best information,” she said. Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire said she found that answer disappointing: “The American people need a leader at the FDA who is able to say that the president is wrong when he is.”