Washington D.C. – Ahead of today’s Senate confirmation hearing for Donald Trump’s nominee for Surgeon General, Protect Our Care president Brad Woodhouse spotlighted Dr. Nicole Saphier’s disqualifying record:
“Dr. Saphier may be a perfect mouthpiece for Donald Trump’s science-denying, corporate-donor-first, public-health-last agenda, but that’s also what makes her so wrong for Surgeon General. Whether her vaccine skepticism, big tobacco investments, or business peddling sketchy supplements tied to liver damage, any Senator who claims to care about public health has reason for alarm.
“A vaccine skeptic has no business being the nation’s top public health educator, especially during a historic and now deadly measles crisis caused by anti-vax disinformation. Dr. Saphier has questioned the need for the hepatitis B shot and the full childhood vaccine schedule when any pediatrician could tell her why they matter: these vaccines prevent thousands of premature deaths among American kids. No serious medical professional would dismiss the demonstrated risk of babies catching Hepatitis B from unaware mothers and suffering from fatal liver disease and cancer – or ignore the sound science behind the current childhood vaccine schedule. Based on nothing but gut feelings and conspiracy theories, Donald Trump and RFK Jr are actively working to leave children more vulnerable to harmful disease while exploding health care costs for parents. And Dr Saphier seems she’ll be on board with that.”
“Whether or not Dr. Saphier divests from her glaring conflicts of interest, questions remain why someone who claims to care about making America healthier ever chose to invest heavily in industries like big tobacco and big grease that are leading contributors to cancer and heart disease. It’s a safe bet that Dr. Saphier will help promote fellow Philip Morris investor Donald Trump’s obsession with getting poisonous and addictive flavored vapes into the hands of more children.
“Will this finally be the time Chairman Bill Cassidy grows a spine and stops yet another dangerous vaccine critic and grifter from joining the Trump administration? Cassidy’s decision to rubber stamp RFK Jr. as health secretary despite his concerns as a doctor has set back vaccination rates by decades. Why make matters worse?”
BACKGROUND: Dr. Saphier Too Extreme for Surgeon General
Vaccine Skeptic:
- Saphier Content With Deadly Trump CDC Child Vaccine Schedule Downgrade: In an episode of her podcast in March on “vaccine confusion” following Kennedy’s changes to federal vaccine recommendations, Saphier … said, “I did think the original CDC vaccine schedule was somewhat bloated—I thought we could scale back on certain things.” Overall, she did not oppose Kennedy’s changes, but thought they could have been communicated better. On a September 2025 episode of her podcast “Wellness Unmasked with Dr. Nicole Saphier,” she elaborated on her views on vaccines. … “Questioning the vaccine schedule, that doesn’t mean you’re anti-vax.”
- Saphier on Life-Saving Hepatitis B Vaccine: “Don’t Necessarily Think It’s Necessary.” Saphier called the hepatitis B vaccine “the most glaringly obvious one that we certainly should have a conversation about and why it is on any sort of school mandates for kids going to school, especially school aged children. That’s hard for me to wrap my head around.” Saphier has questioned whether every child needs to get the hepatitis B vaccine at birth. “I don’t necessarily think it’s necessary,” she said on a podcast in September.
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- FACT: Hepatitis B is a deadly, incurable viral infection that can lead to liver disease and cancer, and left untreated, 25% of infants with perinatal hepatitis B die prematurely.
- FACT: The Hepatitis B shot is given at birth because that is when its life-saving potential is greatest.
- FACT: Study after study have unequivocally shown the HBV vaccine to be extremely safe.
- FACT: Since 1991, the universal HBV birth dose has prevented more than 500,000 childhood infections and prevented an estimated 90,100 childhood deaths.
- FACT: The hepatitis B vaccine has been administered to newborns for more than three decades, helping reduce infections among infants and children by 99%.
- Saphier Was Uncertain Hegseth Flu Shot Rollback a “Bad Idea” Before It Got an Airman Killed: In a more recent episode, she expressed uncertainty about whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to drop mandatory flu vaccinations in the military was a bad idea or not.” In June, it was confirmed that the death of an Air Force recruit at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland was “caused by a flu virus that has swept the base” on the heels of Sec. Hegseth’s reckless order to rescind the flu vaccine requirement in April.
Conflicts of Interest:
- Saphier Sells ‘Snail Oil’ Supplement with ‘Ingredient Banned by Pentagon’: “Saphier also has dipped into the wellness product industry, creating a line of herbal supplements called Drop Rx.” Saphier “sells an herbal supplement that contains an ingredient prohibited by the US military and which health experts have warned can cause liver damage. Dr Nicole Saphier’s record of selling dietary supplements, which are only loosely regulated in the US, has raised concern among doctors and consumer advocates, some of whom allege she sells “snake oil”. Amazon said it had opened an investigation into the products after the Guardian inquired whether they were in compliance with the company’s policies on supplement sales.
- Saphier Invested In Big Tobacco, Big Grease, Big Pharma: Saphier “reported investments in companies including McDonald’s Corp., Monster Beverage Corp., Coca-Cola Co. and the tobacco company Philip Morris International Inc. … [and] several pharmaceutical companies including Eli Lilly & Co., Merck & Co., Johnson & Johnson, Amgen Inc. and Gilead Sciences Inc.”
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