A Senate committee advanced Dr. Nicole Saphier’s surgeon general nomination on a 12-11 vote after she rejected any childhood vaccine-autism link, moving another Trump health pick closer to full confirmation.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted Wednesday in Washington to send radiologist Dr. Nicole Saphier forward as President Donald Trump’s third nominee for surgeon general.

The Associated Press reported the nomination cleared on a 12-to-11 vote, with Timothy Westlake advanced on the same en bloc ballot for assistant secretary for mental health and substance use at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Full Senate timing is not immediately clear. Officials are expected to be approved.

Cassidy pressed Saphier on vaccines and autism

Saphier, a former Fox News Channel contributor, faced a confirmation hearing earlier this month that focused heavily on childhood vaccines.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican, pressed her to say whether she believed vaccines are linked to autism. He also asked whether parents should give children the MMR shot.

Saphier expressed support for vaccines and answered directly.

She told lawmakers she does

"not believe childhood vaccines cause autism"

and added that

"the MMR vaccine is our greatest tool for combating measles,"

That exchange mattered because the Trump administration has sought to revisit claims about a link between vaccines and autism. Saphier’s public answers put her on the record against that claimed link while still backing routine childhood immunization.

Close committee math keeps pressure on the full Senate

A one-vote margin out of committee is not a landslide. It does show the nomination survived the first real test after the hearing scrutiny.

Westlake’s parallel advance means two HHS-related picks moved together. That pattern fits a broader push to staff key health posts rather than leave them vacant through drawn-out process fights.

Recent Senate action has already cleared dozens of Trump nominees in a single vote, cutting the backlog of empty seats.

Even so, every remaining confirmation still has to clear committee math and floor time. Vacancies at health agencies do not fill themselves.

Lawmakers have also raced to confirm Trump nominees before recess when major posts sat empty, a reminder that delay carries a cost.

Third try for surgeon general keeps the seat in focus

Calling Saphier the third nominee underscores how long the surgeon general slot has stayed unsettled. Each failed or withdrawn pick leaves the office without a confirmed leader.

Trump has continued to press the Senate on other high-profile health confirmations as well, including efforts to move an FDA nominee before the next midterms.

Procedural fights elsewhere in the chamber show how single senators can slow packages of picks. One recent example came when a Democrat stalled a Banking Committee vote over background-check questions.

Against that backdrop, a 12-11 committee advance is progress, not a finished job. The full Senate still has to schedule and pass the nominations.

Saphier’s hearing answers gave senators a clear vaccine record to judge. She backed the MMR shot, rejected an autism link, and still cleared a narrowly divided panel.

Voters hired a president to choose his public-health team. A thin committee margin should not turn routine confirmations into permanent roadblocks.