A controversial Trump-nominated assistant health secretary is leading the nation’s hantavirus outbreak response.
Admiral Brian Christine, an Alabama-based urologist, joined the Trump administration in November 2025 as Assistant Secretary for Health, right-hand man to HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
Christine, a medical doctor specializing in penile implants, had little experience in public health or infectious diseases before accepting the job under Kennedy.
Now, his role is gaining prominence. Earlier this week, Christine led a press conference on America’s handling of a hantavirus outbreak stemming from the MV Hondius cruise ship.
Currently, the CDC is monitoring 41 people across 16 states who may have been exposed to the virus, which normally spreads through contact with rat droppings. Of those, 18 people are quarantined in Omaha and Atlanta.
In the press conference, Christine said the risk of hantavirus to the American people is ‘very, very low’ and that health officials are promising a response ‘grounded in science’ and ‘grounded in transparency.’
He also said HHS has taken the situation ‘seriously from the very beginning.’
But Christine has drawn controversy for spreading far-right conspiracy theories and having a lack of relevant medical experience outside of urology.
Admiral Brian Christine, Assistant Secretary for Health, is pictured (right) earlier this week at a press conference regarding America’s handling of the hantavirus outbreak stemming from the MV Hondius cruise ship
Christine was pinned with his insignia to recognize his rank as a 4-star admiral during a ceremony at the Department of Health and Human Services with Robert F Kennedy Jr
According to HHS, Christine earned his Doctor of Medicine degree from Emory University in Atlanta and completed his residency in Urology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
HHS states Christine ‘has published peer-reviewed research, lectured extensively, and trained surgeons around the world.
‘He is a member of several leading professional organizations, including the American Urologic Association, the Sexual Medicine Society of North America, the International Society for Sexual Medicine, and the International Continence Society.’
He has not held positions in public health or infectious diseases.
In his podcast ‘Common Sense,’ Christine has called the Covid-19 pandemic a government conspiracy manufactured as a tool for rigging the 2020 presidential election.
In the same October 2022 episode, he promoted 2000 Miles, a widely debunked far-right conspiracy film that promoted unfounded claims of election fraud during the pandemic.
‘This is probably the most important thing that’s happened during the pandemic,’ Christine said in the episode.
‘There is no question that the pandemic was used to influence the outcome of the 2020 elections.’
He also criticized the Biden administration and compared Covid-era vaccine mandates to Nazi Germany, stating: ‘There are things that are similar that were going on in Germany that are going on in the United States right now.’
‘There aren’t concentration camps in the United States, but there’s no question that conservatives feel threatened,’ he added. ‘There’s no question that conservatives like myself and others feel like the government is being weaponized against us.’
Christine also claimed that Americans ‘have been forced to take the vaccination.’
Christine has drawn controversy over views of the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine mandates
He said in the same 2022 podcast episode: ‘Well, the government said, if you don’t take the vaccine, you may lose your job. You may lose your income. There were threats in this way. And so a lot of individuals were forced to take the vaccine and to take the boosters.
‘And if someone wanted to take the vaccine, I think that’s fine. But forcing people to take a vaccination is absolutely wrong.’
In September 2025, two months before Christine’s appointment, Kennedy’s handpicked Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) panel voted to remove all ‘positive’ recommendations surrounding the mRNA Covid vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna, meaning the CDC would no longer recommend US adults get the shots.
Instead, the experts advised Americans to rely on ‘individual decision-making.’
In criticizing vaccine mandates in that same October 2022 podcast episode, Christine claimed that the Covid-19 vaccine ‘ultimately was proved not to prevent the disease and not to prevent the spread of the disease.’
He added: ‘We know that there have been people who have died from that, but we also know that most people who get infected aren’t going to die. Most people who get infected aren’t going to get sick.
‘But the government and the left have used the pandemic to control people.’
Christine has criticized COVID-era vaccine mandates, claiming Americans ‘have been forced to take the vaccination’ (stock image)
mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are thought to have saved millions of lives in the US, according to the CDC. Myocarditis, inflammation around the heart muscle, has been linked to the shots, but federal figures show the risk is extremely rare, at about one in 125,000.
Christine has also voiced support for Alabama’s abortion ban, stating it should not include exceptions for rape or incest.
In a podcast episode titled ‘Abortion Laws,’ he said: ‘Just because the pregnancy occurs through an act of violence, that doesn’t mean the unborn child doesn’t have the right to life and we recognize and we believe that another act of violence and an abortion is an act of violence.
‘We recognize and believe that another act of violence isn’t going to make things right.
‘So there’s no exclusion for rape and incest. That’s the Alabama law. I think it makes sense.’
HHS told the Daily Mail in a statement: ‘Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Christine remains focused on executing President Trump and Secretary Kennedy’s agenda to Make America Healthy Again and deliver on President Trump’s Executive Order to protect our children against chemical and surgical mutilation.’
