Although Means graduated from Stanford School of Medicine, she did not complete her head and neck surgical residency at Oregon Health and Science University, is not board-certified, and does not have an active medical license. Her scientific experience is mainly focused around her work as a wellness influencer, and a leader within the Make America Healthy Again (Maha) space – which has become the key pillar of the Trump administration’s health policy under Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Means declined to give a simple yes-or-no answer when the committee chair, Republican senator Bill Cassidy, pressed her on whether, as surgeon general, she would encourage parents to vaccinate their children with routine shots such as the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.