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Surgeon general nominee Nicole Saphier criticized the Trump administration on her podcast and Fox

CNN reported that Saphier deleted posts criticizing the Trump administration for its recommendation against pregnant women using Tylenol and its handling of measles. Saphier used similar rhetoric on her podcast and Fox News.

Written by Payton Armstrong & Sophie Lawton

Published 05/07/26

Citation

From the December 12, 2025, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends

President Donald Trump's latest surgeon general nominee, Nicole Saphier, reportedly deleted social media posts with commentary critical of some of the Trump administration's health-related policy and messaging. She pushed similar rhetoric on her podcast and Fox News.

As a Fox News medical contributor and podcast host, Saphier said the administration's announcement recommending pregnant women not take Tylenol was “painful to watch” and “really irresponsible” and “some of it was factually incorrect.” She also criticized the administration’s handling of measles on her podcast, saying it’s “pretty sad, pretty embarrassing from a public health perspective,” that the country is “at risk of losing” its measles eradication status.

On April 30, Trump nominated Saphier after his previous nominee, Casey Means, reportedly “faced opposition because of her significant conflicts of interest in the wellness industry and a lack of support for vaccines.” Saphier repeatedly downplayed the COVID-19 pandemic and undermined related public health measures while at Fox, and she “has questioned routine childhood vaccines and other public health measures.”

New CNN reporting revealed that Saphier deleted social media posts in which she criticized Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health policies, including Trump’s comments linking Tylenol use to autism, the administration’s handling of measles, and changes to federal vaccine policy:

Just two months before she was selected as President Donald Trump’s nominee for surgeon general, Dr. Nicole Saphier suggested the administration was hiding that measles was spreading widely enough in the United States for the country to lose its “elimination” status until after the midterm elections.

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Saphier also repeatedly criticized Trump’s messaging surrounding Tylenol use during pregnancy after the president publicly urged pregnant women to avoid the medication over unproven claims linking it to autism and told women to “tough it out” rather than take it for pain or fever.

“As a mom of 3 kids, I don’t love a man telling me to ‘tough it out’ when it comes to pregnancy. Words matter. Facts matter too,” she wrote in a since-deleted post from September 2025.

Saphier also levied similar criticisms at the administration during appearances on Fox and her own podcast Wellness Unmasked.

Saphier appeared on Fox News Radio's Charles Payne's Unstoppable Prosperity Podcast in September 2025 to discuss a press conference where Trump declared, “Don't take Tylenol. … If you're pregnant, don't take Tylenol. And don't give it to the baby after the baby is born,” and claimed there is a link Tylenol and autism, which experts dispute.

During the appearance, Saphier said her “biggest concern” was the “messaging” that pregnant mothers should not take Tylenol. “If women are so afraid of Tylenol during pregnancy and let their fevers go unchecked, you’re going to see even more cases of autism,” she said.

On Charles Payne's Unstoppable Prosperity Podcast, Nicole Saphier discusses her concerns about the Trump administration's messaging about Tylenol and pregnancy

September 22, 2025

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From the September 22, 2025, edition of Fox News Radio's Charles Payne's Unstoppable Prosperity Podcast

In a September 2025 Wellness Unmasked episode, Saphier covered the Trump administration's press conference on links between Tylenol and autism. During the episode, she said, “There was a lot of information presented at this press conference. Some of it was factually correct. Some of it was factually incorrect,” and she called it “painful to watch” and “full of hyperbole.”

She explained that there have been many “observational studies” on possible links between Tylenol and autism but they have not proved a causal link.

Nicole Saphier calls "some" of the Trump administration's claims about Tylenol and autism "factually incorrect"

September 23, 2025

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From the September 23, 2025, edition of Premiere Radio Network's Wellness Unmasked

A month later, Saphier called some of the administration's remarks on Tylenol “really irresponsible” because Trump was not “wholly transparent about the data that backs up those comments.”

Nicole Saphier says the Trump administration is "really irresponsible" for not saying where the data on giving children Tylenol came from

October 31, 2025

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From the October 31, 2025, edition of Premiere Radio Network's Wellness Unmasked

Saphier has shared criticism about the rise in measles in the United States on both Fox News and her podcast. In one podcast episode, she said it’s “pretty sad, pretty embarrassing from a public health perspective” that the country is “at risk of losing” its measles eradication status.

Nicole Saphier says the rise of measles in the United States is "pretty sad, pretty embarrassing from a public health perspective"

April 16, 2026

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Citation

From the April 16, 2026, edition of Premiere Radio Network's Wellness Unmasked

And in a 2025 Fox News interview, she pointed to “declining vaccination rates” as a cause of outbreaks of measles across the country. According to Saphier, the “mishandling of COVID” led to declining rates, and “we’re going to see further declines in vaccination rates” and “more measles cases” as “we are seeing even more mistrust and confusion” with “the way things are going right now with the CDC and current vaccination advisory committees.”

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The dishonest doctors who were Fox News’ most frequent medical guests in 2021

These 10 guests made nearly 700 combined appearances on Fox this year – and often spread medical misinformation on-air

WRITTEN BY REBECCA MARTIN

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ALICIA SADOWSKI

PUBLISHED 12/30/21

Politico recently admonished Dr. Anthony Fauci for his choice not to appear on Fox News, saying it deprived Fox viewers of “the Biden administration’s most public-facing figure in the effort to contain Covid-19.” But an appearance by one credible public health communicator wouldn’t be able to correct the imbalance of the network’s concerted effort to serially misinform its viewers about the pandemic.

Fox has repeatedly villainized Fauci, instead hosting a parade of dubious medical guests to justify the network’s skewed political narrative by spreading false or misleading statements to viewers. And because many in Fox’s guest lineup hold an advanced degree in public health or medicine, their willingness to lend credibility to the spread of misinformation is even more dangerous.

With the help of its rotating roster of supposed medical experts, Fox News turned vaccine passports and mandates into culture war battles because it’s “great for ratings.” According to a Media Matters study, Fox News undermined vaccines nearly every day over a six-month period. (Ironically, Fox’s own vaccine and testing policies are more stringent than those put forward by the Biden administration.)

Guests and hosts on Fox also spread many questionable “miracle cures” for COVID-19, including bear bile, vaping, and sunlight. Notably, Fox helped fan the flames of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin misinformation, leading to shortages of these medications which are crucial for treating other ailments.

These kinds of public health misinformation are deadly, especially when it comes from people who should know better. The frequent bad actors listed below each have a history of spreading misleading and false medical advice on Fox News, which gives these medical misinformers a huge platform to spread that bad advice to its viewers.

Here are the top 10 most frequent medical guests on Fox News in 2021:

CitationMolly Butler / Media Matters

In 2021, Siegel routinely contributed to persistent anti-science propaganda on Fox:

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CitationFrom the November 8, 2021, edition of Fox News' Primetime

Despite Makary making numerous false predictions (saying, for example, that the United States would reach herd immunity by April) and being called out by other public experts for downplaying the risk of infectious disease, Fox regularly invited him back on-air in 2021 to undermine public healthefforts:

CitationFrom the November 29, 2021, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends

Saphier has routinely undermined public health measures and downplayed the pandemic on Fox in 2021:

CitationFrom the November 29, 2021 edition of Fox News' Primetime

In his appearances on Fox to discuss the pandemic in 2021, Paul has habitually echoed right-wing media narratives and spread misinformation:

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CitationFrom the November 29, 2021, edition of Fox News' Special Report

In his appearances on Fox to discuss the pandemic in 2021, Giroir has often spread misinformation:

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CitationFrom the November 29, 2021, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends

In her appearances on Fox to discuss COVID-19 in 2021, Nesheiwat attempted to justify criticism of public health measures and made misleading statements:

CitationFrom the November 29, 2021, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle

In his appearances on Fox to discuss the pandemic in 2021, Bhattacharya has habitually spread misinformation:

CitationFrom the November 24, 2021, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle

In his appearances on Fox to discuss COVID-19 in 2021, Risch has often spread misinformation:

In his appearances on Fox to discuss COVID-19 during 2021, Atlas consistently spread misinformation:

CitationFrom the November 30, 2021, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle

In his appearances on Fox in 2021 to discuss COVID-19, McCullough has repeatedly spread misinformation that undermines the public vaccination effort:

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