Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams Speaks on Face the Nation

America's most urgent health crisis is not opioids or obesity. Appearing on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan from Indianapolis, former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams made that case bluntly, arguing that a collapse of public trust in health institutions now poses the greatest risk to the nation's wellbeing, even as he found a rare point of agreement with the Trump administration he once served.

Adams, who served as surgeon general during President Trump's first term, opened the Sunday interview by citing polling that captured the scale of the problem. Seventy percent of Americans, he said, support childhood vaccines and school mandates, yet a similar majority reported they do not trust health information from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. A separate Axios poll, Adams noted, found that 68 percent of respondents said they would not trust health advice from Casey Means, the Trump administration's nominee to serve as the next surgeon general.

Adams was direct about why Means falls short of the role. Every physician, nurse, pharmacist, and member of the Public Health Service Corps is required to hold an active medical license, he said, adding that he personally fired staff during his tenure for failing to meet that standard. Means dropped out of her medical residency and does not hold an active license. Adams acknowledged that Means could serve in an advisory capacity to the White House or to Secretary Kennedy, but argued that background disqualifies her from the nation's top public health post.

On the measles vaccine, Adams drew a clear line. He watched Means equivocate during her confirmation hearing before Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican physician from Louisiana, pressed her on whether she would encourage a mother to vaccinate her child against measles. Adams called the response "after much pressing and equivocating" and said the country cannot afford to go backwards on vaccines that are safe, effective, and represent the most important public health achievement in living memory.

Despite his sustained criticism of the administration's health leadership, Adams identified one area of alignment with Kennedy. Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the California Health Department, Adams said, recommend that children not be allowed to keep cellphones in their bedrooms. The reasons are straightforward: the devices keep kids up at night and expose them to constant bullying.

"I want to find common ground with the secretary," Adams said. "This is one place where we agree, we should not be exposing young people to cellphones and social media, particularly in their bedrooms at night."

The March 29 broadcast also featured interviews with Democratic Representative Jim Himes, Iran policy analyst Karim Sadjadpour, and retired General Frank McKenzie, former commander of U.S. Central Command. For Adams, the through line of the appearance was consistent: rebuilding the credibility of American public health institutions requires leadership that earns trust, not erodes it.