FDA pick Overton ducks senators’ questions on vaccines and abortion
The nominee’s refusal to take positions comes as the FDA reviews abortion drug mifepristone and vaccine safety is in the spotlight.
At Thursday’s Senate health committee hearing, FDA nominee Heidi Overton faced questions about vaccines, flavored vapes, contraception and abortion but offered senators little clarity. The questioning lasted nearly two hours, and Overton avoided taking positions even on relatively easy prompts; she is a physician with a doctorate in clinical investigation and serves as deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy. Her opposition to abortion is relevant as the FDA examines mifepristone, for which the article says extensive safety data exists. In August, Overton stood beside Trump while he wrongly portrayed the MMR vaccine as highly dangerous and compared infant vaccine doses to a soda bottle. Trump also urged splitting MMR into three immunizations, though the article says there is no evidence that would help and no separate versions are available in the US.
Why it matters
Overton’s evasive performance leaves senators and the public with little sense of how she would handle politically charged decisions on vaccines, reproductive health and tobacco products. Her background as a physician and White House domestic policy aide, combined with her presence at an event where Trump promoted unsubstantiated claims about the MMR vaccine, heightens concern over how scientific evidence would guide FDA leadership on issues like mifepristone and childhood immunizations.
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Sources
- Ars Technica