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Surgeon general nominee Nicole Saphier, seeking to be confirmed as the nation’s top health educator and spokesperson, on Wednesday declined to fully distance herself from the Trump administration’s changes to the childhood vaccine schedule when pressed by a prominent Republican. (Cohen, 9/16)

Wednesday’s Senate confirmation hearing wasn’t the first time much of the American public met Dr. Nicole Saphier and heard her perspective; President Donald Trump’s nominee for US surgeon general is a health and wellness influencer who has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers through her podcast and social media platforms. (McPhillips, 9/16)

Over two days, senators on two key committees focused on the authority Chris Klomp already wields, and how he would use this power should he be confirmed as second-in-command to health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Cirruzzo, 9/16)

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) on Wednesday said the nation’s worst measles outbreak in the United States in 35 years is “going to be a terrible legacy for this administration,” citing recent deaths in Pennsylvania. “Misinformation and misguided policies are leaving children and adults unprotected against disease that we know how to prevent,” Cassidy, a physician and chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said at the outset of a hearing for three key administration nominees. (Roubein, 9/16)

Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) said Wednesday he would refuse any federal aid for Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms the four measles deaths reported in the state. ... Shapiro accused HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of diminishing the severity of measles and recounted a phone call they had last month. “Look, he doesn’t believe that measles is an issue. When I spoke to him over the phone, he wanted to lecture me about natural measles, and, in many ways, making excuses. He blamed Joe Biden for all of this. I mean, he is someone who is not, I think, connected or grounded in reality," Shapiro said Wednesday. (Carter, 9/16)

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will have a homecoming of sorts Thursday when he delivers the keynote address at a conference hosted by an anti-vaccine group he co-founded a decade ago. (Bendix, 9/16)

Nearly three weeks after the Food and Drug Administration approved updated Covid vaccines, about half of American children still cannot receive them, because the federal government has not made the doses available through the Vaccines for Children program. (Astor, 9/16)

Today, the Vaccine Integrity Project (VIP), based at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), announced it will examine existing scientific evidence on meningococcal and pneumococcal vaccines for children and young adults for its next independent review. CIDRAP publishes CIDRAP News. (Soucheray, 9/16)