Unqualified to be Surgeon General, Casey Means Will Fuel Trump’s Attacks on Public Health
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In her confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Casey Means refused to distance herself from her previous conspiratorial statements on important public health issues.
Public Citizen recently published a report on how Means and MAHA influencers exploit vulnerabilities in the American health care system to hawk unproven medical treatments and unregulated health supplements while fomenting distrust towards health care providers.
Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement:
“Casey Means showed just how profoundly unqualified she is to be U.S. Surgeon General. At her confirmation hearing, she failed to repudiate her unconscionable prior statements on a range of conspiracy theories, including on vaccines, autism, and access to reproductive health care.
“Means is another example of President Trump nominating someone with financial conflicts instead of qualifications – elevated precisely because of her opposition to the best science and fundamental public health principles. We need a Surgeon General who understands that public health is, fundamentally, about taking care of each other, not leaving each of us to go it alone.
“It is clear that Means will not push back on Trump and RFK Jr. as they put profits ahead of patients and anti-science views ahead of sound public health information. The already broken U.S. health care system has been made much worse by Trump and his allies, who have gutted important health agencies and made dangerous cuts to health programs to fund tax cuts for billionaires.
“Casey Means has no place as U.S. Surgeon General, and every Senator should reject her absurd nomination.”