One of the nation’s foremost authorities on vaccines has just appointed a notorious vaccine skeptic as its second-in-command.
Dr. Ralph Lee Abraham’s new role as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s deputy director comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., himself no stranger to controversial and debunked claims about the perceived dangers of vaccines, continues his rampage across the healthcare sector.
Neither Kennedy’s department nor the CDC announced Abraham’s appointment, The New York Times reports, and agency staff were apparently largely unaware of the posting.
A former Louisiana congressman, Abraham later served as the state’s surgeon general, during which time he halted Louisiana’s mass vaccination campaign on the basis that “whether or not a vaccine is right for a specific person [is a conversation] best had with the individual’s healthcare provider.”
The Louisiana health department also waited more than two months under Abraham’s leadership before alerting residents to an outbreak of whooping cough, despite such outbreaks generally being reported almost immediately.
Abraham’s views on medicine have aligned with Kennedy in other ways. During the pandemic, he backed hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, drugs used to treat malaria and parasitic infections, respectively, as treatments for COVID-19 despite evidence showing both are ineffective at combating the disease.
He also described health policies implemented during the crisis as “tyrannical” and “woefully out of touch with reality.”
Speaking with the NYT, Abraham’s predecessor at the CDC, Dr. Nirav Shah, said his “jaw hit the ground” when he learned of the new appointment, given he believes Abraham to be wholly “unqualified” for the position.
The posting comes as Kennedy continues to publicly spar with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who is a doctor and chair of the Senate’s health committee. Cassidy was a key vote in securing Kennedy’s nomination, which he gave after Kennedy agreed that he would not order the CDC to abandon its official position that vaccines do not cause autism.
Kennedy has now only technically kept that pledge, after adding an addendum to the agency’s website saying its position on the matter is displayed “due to an agreement” with Cassidy.
While Cassidy has since blasted Kennedy for the “irresponsible stunt,” he would appear to have met news of Abraham’s appointment with wary enthusiasm.
“I am hopeful that the two of us as doctors can continue to engage in science-based conversations to protect children, including vaccinating children to prevent measles, whooping cough, and hepatitis,” Cassidy said in a statement Tuesday.
The Daily Beast has reached out to HSS and CDC for comment on this story.
