Echoing RFK, Dr. Casey Means softens her social media persona when she asks for a surgeon

Dr. Casey Means, the health activist who became famous for bashing traditional medicine and accusing pharmaceutical companies of corruption, was not at all like his online persona Wednesday when he appeared before the Senate.

In measured comments before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to discuss his nomination as surgeon general, Means sidestepped questions about vaccines, birth control and pesticides — topics he often cites as dangerous to human health — at times seeming to frustrate lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

“Do you believe there is evidence that the flu vaccine prevents serious illness or that it prevents hospitalization or death in children?” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., asked.

“I believe all patients should talk to their doctor,” Means said.

After Kaine pressed several times for a clear answer, Means finally replied: “On a human level, I think so.”

“This is not a difficult question,” Kaine said. After three minutes, he answered the question with a simple ‘yes.’

If Means is confirmed, he will be the nation’s top doctor, with the power to issue national health advisories. Although he has a medical degree, he did not complete a surgical residency program and his medical license expired in January 2024. He told the Senate on Wednesday that he does not plan to renew his license because, as a general surgeon, he will not see patients.

Means has amassed nearly a million followers on social media by highlighting the real barriers to Americans’ health — such as a sedentary lifestyle or a diet of highly processed foods — while supporting unsubstantiated claims about children getting too many vaccines and the purported benefits of supplements.

“Our health is deteriorating, for our children, for us and for our parents. We’re getting sicker. We’re getting more difficult. We’re getting more stressed,” she told podcast host Dhru Purohit in 2024. “We wait for people to get sick and then we go in with expensive interventions that don’t get to the root of the problem.”

Means’ views have received increased attention due to the election of President Donald Trump and the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary. Some of his key messages are now key planks of Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. Means is a close friend of Kennedy and served as a campaign adviser during his presidential bid. Trump appointed him as surgeon general based on Kennedy’s recommendation.

As mentioned, Kennedy also softened his speech when he appeared before the Senate for confirmation. At a hearing last year, Kennedy said vaccines play an important role in health care and that he “will not do anything as HHS secretary that makes it harder or harder for people to take anything.” As health secretary, however, Kennedy has restructured the childhood immunization program to have fewer universal recommendations, downplayed the role of measles shots during unprecedented outbreaks and cut funding for mRNA vaccine research.

On Friday, the medical journal The Lancet published an editorial about Kennedy’s “one year of failure,” writing: “The destruction that Kennedy caused in one year may take generations to undo, and there is little hope for US health and science while he is still in power.”

Like Kennedy, Means said Wednesday that vaccines are “an important part of public health” but stopped short of recommending the flu, measles or hepatitis B and refused to rule out vaccines as part of autism.

“We don’t know as a medical community what causes autism,” Means said. “Until we clearly understand why children are doing this at such high rates, I think we shouldn’t leave any stones unturned.”

Jeff Niederdeppe, associate director of the Cornell Health Policy Center, said in a statement that it’s hard to know if we should take Means at his word about priorities and plans.

“As we saw with RFK Jr., Senate confirmation hearings do not bind candidates to how they will perform in this position,” he said.

However, Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said Means “has made clear his commitment to following available data and gold standard science, which is what the American people should expect from a Surgeon General.”

Means did not respond to a request for comment.

Comments on vaccines and birth control have been downgraded

Before the trial, Means had suggested without evidence that the cumulative effect of childhood vaccines could contribute to autism – a theory not supported by scientific evidence.

“I bet one vaccine probably doesn’t cause autism. But what about 20 who get it before 18 months?” he said on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” one of the most popular podcasts in the world.

Means was also vocal in his belief that most newborns should not get the hepatitis B vaccine. He wrote in X in 2024 that it was “absolutely insane” to give vaccines to newborns if their parents test negative for hepatitis B, adding that “this disease is only spread through needles and sex.”

Hepatitis B can be passed from mother to child during childbirth and can lead to liver disease, cancer and death. It can also be transmitted by contact with household items such as toothbrushes and earrings. Not all pregnant women are tested for this virus, so experts say that the delay in vaccinating newborns can cause many diseases.

When asked about his comments on the hepatitis B vaccine, Means said at the hearing that families should look to have informal discussions with their doctors “about certain vaccines that their children may not be at high risk for.”

“This is not a criticism of the policy in general, which I strongly support,” he said.

Means also qualified his previous comments about birth control pills, which he described in a podcast interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson as “disrespectful to life,” as hormone-suppressing pills make pregnancy and childbirth easier. It means again

wrote on her website about the “horrendous health risks of hormonal birth control on the female mind and body,” but did not provide specifics.

At the hearing, Means said some of the “scary” side effects he was talking about included blood clots and strokes in women who smoke or have clotting problems.

“I absolutely believe that these drugs should be accessible to all women,” he told Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. “I’m talking about certain women who could be harmed if there is no informed consent about their health history, their health exposure and their family history.”

Blood clots and stroke are well-established, though rare, risks associated with certain types of birth control. Doctors already do not recommend combined birth control pills, which contain synthetic versions of the hormones estrogen and progestin, for patients with certain risk factors, such as a history of blood clots, stroke or heart disease, or being over 35 and a smoker. However, they may recommend a smaller, estrogen-free pill.

Changing stance on magic mushrooms and pesticides

In one of the highlights of the hearing, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, questioned Means about his past use of psychedelic mushrooms.

He wrote in his 2024 book “Good Energy” about taking psilocybin – a hallucinogen found in magic mushrooms – describing it as “a door to a different reality free from the limiting beliefs of my ego, emotions, and history.” He also encouraged students to “check out psilocybin for guided therapy.”

Psilocybin is illegal throughout the US, except in Oregon and Colorado, which allow supervised treatment for adults 21 and older. Scientists are still researching its potential as a treatment for mental health conditions, but the Department of Justice says psilocybin currently has no legitimate medical purpose.

“I believe what I can say as a private citizen is often different than what I can say as a public health official,” Means told Collins at the hearing. “When it comes to psychotherapy for mental health problems, I think the science is still emerging, so it would not be a recommendation for the American people to do that, under any circumstances.”

In another, Means was asked about his views on pesticides, which he has called “the invisible poison that is sprayed on us mainly by foreign companies.” On Wednesday, however, he said pesticides are part of a “complex” issue, echoing Kennedy’s recent pivot.

“It’s very sensitive for American farmers and consumers, especially mothers, because we want to have very safe water and safe food and what’s in it. But I understand the smallness of these problems, and that the changes need to be made thoughtfully, with full respect for American farmers and the constraints they are under,” said Means.

Kennedy, too, has argued against the harms of pesticides and spent much of his legislative career pushing for stricter regulations. In 2024, he asked Trump to “revisit pesticide and other chemical use standards,” noting that 72 pesticides approved in the US have been banned or are in the process of being phased out in the European Union.

However, Kennedy’s “MAHA report,” released last year as a road map for improving children’s health, stops short of banning pesticides. And this past weekend, Kennedy supported Trump’s order to ensure the continued supply of glyphosate-based herbicides in the US Glyphosate is a weed killer that Kennedy said is linked to a variety of diseases including cancer. The evidence itself is mixed.