A coalition of more than 2,500 physicians is calling on the Senate to reject the nomination of Heidi Overton, MD, to lead the FDA, citing concerns about her record on vaccines and abortion.
The Sept. 30 letter, organized by the Committee to Protect Health Care, takes particular aim at Dr. Overton’s role in the Trump administration’s efforts to change childhood vaccine policy. As deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Dr. Overton helped craft an executive order that called for splitting the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three separate shots, and she stood beside President Trump in the Oval Office as he signed it, calling the move “a historic action.” Physicians in the group say that framing obscures the real-world consequences: The order arrived amid the worst measles outbreaks the country has seen in more than three decades.
The physicians’ objections also extend to abortion policy. The letter cites Dr. Overton’s previous writing opposing access to medication abortion through telehealth. The FDA is conducting a safety study of mifepristone that could inform future regulatory decisions about the drug. At her confirmation hearing, Dr. Overton acknowledged the FDA’s existing determination that mifepristone is safe and effective and said she would review the evidence and follow statutory requirements if confirmed.
Dr. Overton’s path to the nomination has been closely watched inside the agency and out. She emerged over the summer as one of three finalists under consideration, with one person familiar with the deliberations telling Axios at the time that her selection could unsettle investors, industry executives and career FDA staff already unnerved by the tenure of her predecessor and mentor, Marty Makary, MD. Dr. Makary resigned in May after clashing repeatedly with officials at the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services, leaving Kyle Diamantas, the agency’s deputy commissioner for food, to serve as acting commissioner in the months since.
Dr. Overton’s nomination remains before the Senate.
