Cassidy called her role in Trump’s August vaccine executive order ‘almost disqualifying’
Dr. Heidi Overton, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, told a Senate committee on Thursday that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is “safe and effective” and called it “our best tool right now in the public health response to the measles outbreak.” Her testimony came weeks after she appeared behind Trump at a White House event on 18 May 2026 focused on healthcare costs — at which she was joined on stage by Dr. Mehmet Oz and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — when he suggested the shot could be “quite lethal.”
Asked by Senator Bill Cassidy whether any vaccine on the U.S. market was unsafe, Overton said: “Every vaccine on the US market right now is safe and effective according to the FDA.”
Cassidy, a physician who chairs the Senate health committee, had publicly called Overton’s role in Trump’s August vaccine executive order “almost disqualifying.” His vote is seen as pivotal to her confirmation. The hearing comes as the United States records its highest number of measles cases since 1991.
When Cassidy asked what Overton would do if the president asked her to break her assurances on vaccine safety, she replied: “I would give him my best advice, and I would follow the statutory requirements for the role of FDA commissioner regarding individual product determinations for safety and efficacy.”
Senator Bernie Sanders, the independent from Vermont, asked whether she would have “the courage to stand up to” a president who Sanders said “lies all of the time.” Overton did not answer directly, saying: “I have worked for the president for a long time now, and earned his trust because I have been part of robust discussions to bring him the best advice.”
In her opening statement, Overton framed her agenda around speeding up drug development to protect U.S. leadership in biotechnology. “We can protect America’s global leadership in biotechnology, but we have to act fast,” she said, pledging to make the FDA “the agency of the possible, rather than the impossible.”
Overton, 37, is a surgeon by training and would be the youngest FDA commissioner ever if confirmed. She currently serves as deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy and was a White House fellow during Trump’s first term. Her father leads a church in her hometown of Gallup, New Mexico, and she has cited Colossians 3:23 — “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” — as one of her life verses since childhood.
Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, challenged Overton over the FDA’s August authorization of flavored vapes and nicotine pouches, including blueberry, mango and cappuccino varieties. Collins said nearly 90% of young e-cigarette users choose flavored products. Overton said there was “100% agreement from this administration that we must protect kids” but defended the decision as one recommended by career staff because “so many adults are using flavors preferentially.” She added: “If that standard is not appropriate, we should work on statutes to fix that.”
In a February 2023 issue brief for the America First Policy Institute, where Overton was chief policy officer, she criticized federal policies that allowed abortion pills to be sent through the mail, writing that abortion “is corrosive to children, women, and society broadly.”
If confirmed, Overton would replace Marty Makary, who resigned in May, and take over an agency still recovering from 2025 layoffs that cut its workforce by nearly 20%.