SC Public Health nominee to return to hot seat as COVID response colors confirmation
As Dr. Edward Simmer pushes on in his confirmation process to be the South Carolina Department of Public Health’s first permanent director, he’s striking a different chord when it comes to how public health should be carried out.
Conventional wisdom would say Simmer should have an easy time as he was confirmed in 2021 as Department of Heath and Environmental Control director in a 40-1 Senate vote.
But Simmer’s nomination has become a flash point over how the state handled the COVID pandemic. Simmer didn’t work in South Carolina in 2020 and joined the state’s health agency in 2021, but those against Simmer’s nomination see him as an advocate for mask mandates, closures during the COVID pandemic and vaccine mandates.
He has been attacked on social media and compared to Dr. Anthony Fauci, who had become the target of Republican anger for his guidance during the pandemic.
Simmer has denied being in favor of mandates and has sought to pitch a different approach for the health agency.
During Simmer’s Senate budget hearing, he spoke about the agency going to communities to see what they need instead of the agency dictating services.
“Instead of telling them, we have a great program for you, we’re asking the question, ’What are your concerns about health in your community?’, the people you represent, and then working with them to see if we can help them meet those needs, meet those challenges,” Simmer said during a Senate budget hearing in March. “Sometimes that’s through Department of Public Health. Often, it’s through others, in the community that we are aware of that have services that may help.”
Simmer said his agency has increased community outreach including to faith based organizations and local governments.
He echoed the sentiment during his confirmation hearing and acknowledged the trust in public health needs to be rebuilt.
“I believe that fundamental to rebuilding trust is listening – listening to the people of South Carolina,” Simmer said.
Hearing of Simmer’s confirmation begins
Simmer, Gov. Henry McMaster’s nominee to lead the Department of Public Health, is has had one hearing in front of the Senate Medical Affairs Committee. He’s currently the interim director of the agency, which was split off from the former Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Simmer’s confirmation hearing started March 20, but it was mostly taken up by his more than 40-minute opening statement. Only two senators of the 17-member panel were able to ask questions. Simmer is scheduled to be back in front of the Medical Affairs Committee on Thursday, April 3.
The backdrop over his confirmation is a politically charged environment over the backlash to public health agencies after the COVID pandemic. Several people in the audience wore stickers with Simmer’s face with a red line over it. And during recent months, social media campaigns have sought to end Simmer’s confirmation.
“I think with the way that he just took some of the stuff that came from the federal government and really didn’t analyze it,” said Mark Weber, the chairman of the Lexington County Republican Party, who attended the March 20 hearing. “He’s got a research background, I think, and he’s a doctor, and he just kind of didn’t really, analyze some of the stuff. He just kind of took it and just kind of rolled with it.”
But Simmer also had support in that audience. Several members of McMaster’s cabinet, including SLED Chief Mark Keel, Department of Motor Vehicles Director Kevin Shwedo, Veterans Affairs Secretary Todd B. McCaffrey, Labor, Licensing and Regulation Director Emily Farr, Parks, Recreation and Tourism Director Duane Parish and Emergency Management Division Director Kim Stenson.
Seema Shrivastava, the former chair of the DHEC board, said Simmer worked to strike a balance with the governor to keep businesses and schools open while keeping people safe with information that was available at the time about COVID. Shrivastava said DHEC was lucky to hire Simmer in 2021 because he was a medical officer for TRICARE and was previously a captain in the Navy.
She also attended the Simmer’s confirmation hearing to support him because he faced unfair and unjust accusations that were not true, she said.
“I saw a qualified human, with strong Christian morals who served his country and cares about South Carolinians, getting bullied,” Shrivastava said.
Simmer aggressively spoke out against people who he says have spread misinformation about him on social media.
“It troubles me, and I take issue with individuals deliberately and knowingly spreading lies or misinformation for political gain or social media clicks at the cost of potential harm to others. These falsehoods and lies not only impact me; they are dangerous. They erode the public’s trust in our front-line healthcare workers and put the people who believe the lies and falsehoods at risk,” Simmer said. “To those who have knowingly spread lies and misinformation about me or my agency, I challenge you to take ownership of your actions and make it right.”
And Simmer was ready to defend himself and the agency and denounce threats he had received in recent years, which included a device left by his car made to look like a bomb, he said. That specific threat took place in September 2023 before a Senate Medical Affairs Committee pandemic preparedness listening session and a report was filed with Columbia Police, the department confirmed. The Department of Public Health said SLED also assigned an agent to Simmer the day of the hearing to protect him.
“I am not intimidated. I am not scared. No threats, no lies on social media, no smear campaign from cowards, many of whom hide behind anonymous letters and false social media identities, will ever deter me from continuing to serve the people of South Carolina to the very best of my ability,” Simmer said.
He pointed out that he wasn’t in the state in 2020 when McMaster ordered limited and short-lived closures, and under the new structure the public health leader has a shorter leash.
“As director of a cabinet agency, I report to the governor, who has the authority to remove me at any time,” Simmer said.
Simmer also argued that he supports medical freedom and that he never called for a school to close because of COVID saying it should be a local decision.
“I have never supported efforts to prevent physicians from prescribing ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, or any other medication or treatment to their patients,” Simmer said. “Furthermore, as director of DPH, I have never allowed, and never will allow any action by the agency to interfere with the physician-patient relationship. That is not the role of our agency, nor should it be.”
Even though Simmer has taken the COVID vaccine, he says he never supported mandating people take it.
“I have always recommended that individuals should talk with their medical provider about the vaccine or any treatment to make an informed decision that is best for them,” Simmer said.
Simmer also wore a mask in public much longer than most people after the pandemic, a personal decision that led to outrage among some and mockery, he said. He did so because his wife, Peggy, has underlying health conditions and was at high risk if she contracted the virus. Her medical team recommended they both wear masks until spread went down.
“There is nothing in this world that is more important to me than my wife and her well-being,” Simmer said. “I made the personal choice to wear the mask to protect her. Did I wear a mask longer than most people? Absolutely and I am not ashamed, nor will I apologize for trying to protect my wife.”
Simmer was fiery, and some thought aggressive, with his approach with his opening statement. But it was a strategy he chose.
“My job as the public health director for South Carolina is to get the right information out there so people can make the right decisions for themselves,” Simmer told reporters after the March 20 hearing. “Part of what I was trying to do today is let folks know that there are some folks out there that are not doing the right thing, and we need to fight that.”
Vocal opposition already announced
Still, Simmer faces vocal opposition, as some members of the Medical Affairs Committee, including state Sens. Billy Garrett, R-Lexington, and Tom Fernandez, R-Dorchester, already have announced their intentions to vote against the retired Navy doctor.
“We won’t support him. Let me say this, I actually was able to do a sit down with him about COVID. It’s clear to me that he was all controlled by the government in Washington and he wasn’t controlled by South Carolina,” Garrett said. “We’re going to give him a fair hearing. He’s entitled to that, and hopefully, after he hears the questions that we’ve got to ask of him, he decides he didn’t want to do this anymore, and that would be my hope.”
Fernandez, a first term senator, posted his intention not to support Simmer before the hearings began.
“Dr. Simmer served as the Director of DHEC at a time when personal freedoms were under attack. Under his leadership, mandates were promoted, businesses were pressured, and South Carolinians were subjected to government control over their own medical decisions,” Fernandez said.
Others on the committee publicly confronted Simmer on the COVID vaccine.
During the March 20 hearing, State Sen. Tom Corbin, R-Greenville pointed to studies that showed the COVID vaccine may have links to cancerous tumors.
“It is my contention that it is wrong for this state to promote the vaccine as being safe and effective, when, in my opinion, is not so I like to know what your opinion what evidence do you have to promote that idea that it is safe and effective,” Corbin said.
Simmer acknowledge the vaccine has side effects, but they are short lived.
“Most of the study experts I have read, have said that if there is DNA there in some small quantity, it poses no risk,” Simmer said.
Support for Simmer may become an issue in the 2026 race for governor, especially in what is expected to be a contested GOP primary.
State Sen. Sean Bennett, R-Dorchester, who is considering a run for governor, was asked about what his position is on Simmer at a Richland County GOP meeting.
Bennett, who does not serve on the Medical Affairs Committee, didn’t say which way he would vote but said the agency’s leader would not be a czar because he would be accountable to the governor.
“Now, in his defense, I will say that some of the things that he’s been kind of hit for, he didn’t do. He got hit with, mask mandates and a lot of these other things that he really did not, did not enforce,” Bennett said. “But I think he’s going to have some trouble coming out of medical affairs committee.”
State Sen. Josh Kimbrell, R-Spartanburg, who is also considering a run for governor, sits on the Medical Affairs Committee. He said he was inclined to vote against Simmer’s confirmation, but after the hearing decided to wait on making a decision.
“I have some serious questions about where DHEC has been as an agency. I don’t like some of the social positions I thought they’ve waded into,” Kimbrell said. “I don’t like some of the social media positions they’ve taken, but I also don’t like some of the personal attacks directed at him.”
In 2021, when Simmer was appointed director of DHEC, state Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley, was the only no vote in the upper chamber. He told The State he plans to vote the same way.
Grooms said he did not believe Simmer had the leadership ability to run the agency and has not gained the ability.
“He’s smart guy. He needs to be the guy in the backroom writing the white papers that others read to understand how they should lead,” Grooms added.
Only one hour was set aside for Simmer’s March 20 hearing and only two senators were able to ask questions, with several more members of the 17-senator committee on the list to ask questions.
The April 3 hearing could last two hours in the morning, only to return for an afternoon session.
“The collegiality of the body of the committee will be honored. Every member that has a question will be afforded that opportunity,” said state Sen. Danny Verdin, R-Laurens, at the first hearing.
Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, who is not on the Medical Affairs Committee, said Simmer’s opening statement was strong, but it may lead to more questions from committee members.
“It was an understandable strong response considering some of the criticism that he’s faced, and in anticipation of some of the questions that he was going to get, I think he needed to come out strong. Now, is that going to be enough to give to the committee? I don’t know. I can’t, answer that,” Massey told reporters.
