Trump supporters criticized his Friday appointment of Dr. Janette Nesheiwat as the United States Surgeon General, pointing to her previous stances on Covid-19. However, some individuals commended her apparent shift in views on the issue.

During the announcement on Friday, Trump described Nesheiwat, a medical doctor and former Fox News contributor, as “a strong communicator for preventive medicine and public health.”

While the President-elect lauded Nesheiwat, some of his most ardent supporters criticized her appointment and called on him to reverse the decision.

Nesheiwat’s endorsement of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s actions to censor certain COVID-19 information on the platform appeared to upset prominent right-wing social media personalities, including former One America News Network anchor Liz Wheeler and the influential meme account “I Meme Therefore I Am.”

“First of all, vaccines save lives and I am so excited and I thank and I commend Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg for taking action because this affects everyone,” Nesheiwat said during an appearance on Fox Business Network.

The “I Meme Therefore I Am” account posted the video and warned against accepting a candidate with views similar to those of Dr. Anthony Fauci.

“If you want President Trump to succeed, you should discourage him from appointing anyone like Fauci to his cabinet again,” the X account noted.

Conservative lawyer Julie Hamill replied to the video, calling the pick “totally unacceptable.”

Nesheiwat was also once an advocate for masking during the pandemic, a position Wheeler criticized as a “dealbreaker.”

“Here’s the problem, Delta [Covid variant] is different. And that’s why the American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending that if you’re gonna be in a classroom, in a crowded classroom, then you want to protect yourself, wear a mask,” Nesheiwat told then-Fox News host Pete Hegseth in an August 2021 appearance.

“It’s important to point out, though, masking is not the only solution. We also need to make sure that we have good ventilation, that people are washing their hands, that they’re getting tested and that all the teachers are getting vaccinated as well,” she also said in the appearance.

Dr. Janette Nesheiwat supported masking kids in school. DEALBREAKER.

https://t.co/3ERoCD7tBR

— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) November 23, 2024

In October 2021, Nesheiwat criticized Republican Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo after he suggested that masks might not effectively prevent the spread of Covid-19.

“Masks have saved thousands of lives and prevented thousands of infections,” Nesheiwat wrote in response to a clip of the video on X.

That position alone led Wheeler to take to the X platform to call on Nesheiwat to withdraw her name from consideration.

“Dr. Janette Nesheiwat bashes Dr. Joseph Ladapo because Ladapo followed scientific evidence that masks don’t work. Nesheiwat should withdraw. She’s not a leader. She’s a sheep. She mindlessly parroted ‘the experts’ covid tyranny,” Wheeler wrote.

However, some have lauded the appointment, pointing to Dr. Nesheiwat’s noticeable change on several key issues.

For example, in February 2021, she referred to Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccines as “a gift from God” and endorsed them as “our path out of the pandemic.” But later on, she criticized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for including the vaccine in the childhood immunization schedule.

Trump War Room, an X account affiliated directly with Trump’s presidential campaign, reposted multiple videos of Nesheiwat appearing to change her tune on masks and vaccines after her initial strong positions in favor of the measures.

One video the account posted shared a video of her criticizing “politicized” Covid mandates.

While many seemingly-MAGA faithful were still critical, some responded positively to her more recent comments.

“Good start – a lot of question marks for this candidate, so far so good,” one user wrote in response.

“I’m glad you guys are listening to us. Her positions on these issues back in 2020 were trash,” another said.