New #2 at CDC a vaccine skeptic?

Listen, Ralph is old school but effective. Dismissing him out of hand because he's cast in the role of "witch doctor" is defamatory and insulting to Indigenous Americans.

Axios News

The Trump administration tapped a former Louisiana health official who ordered a stop to promotions of mass vaccination events last winter to be the CDC's new principal deputy director.

Why it matters: The move begins to fill out the top ranks of the CDC, whose leadership was left in limbo after a wave of high-level departures this summer, including the August firing of former director Susan Monarez.

Driving the news: Former Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham was listed as CDC's principal deputy director on an internal email server, Inside Medicine first reported yesterday.

HHS later confirmed his appointment, which is not subject to Senate confirmation.

He would be the most senior medical professional at the public health agency, serving under acting director Jim O'Neill, a former Silicon Valley investor and entrepreneur.

Abraham was a three-term congressman from 2015 to 2021 who spent 10 years as a veterinarian before going to medical school and then practicing family medicine, according to his official biography.

He has publicly sparred with Senate health committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) over vaccines, saying he doesn't believe COVID-19 shots are safe and admonishing Cassidy, also a physician, to "stay in his lane."