Trump administration withdraws vaccine critic Weldon for CDC director’s post

Washington — The White House withdrew President Donald Trump’s nomination of former Republican congressman and vaccine critic Dave Weldon to serve as director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a surprise move that came shortly before his scheduled Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday.

Weldon, a physician who has a long history of opposing vaccines, said in a four-page statement posted by the New York Times that he had been informed 12 hours before the hearing by the White House that there were not enough votes for confirmation.

Weldon is the first Trump nominee withdrawn from consideration, after the Republican-majority Senate confirmed unconventional picks including anti-vaccine activist Robert F Kennedy Jnr as health and human services secretary, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth for defence secretary and director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who had been critical of US intelligence efforts.

The decision to withdraw Weldon, which was confirmed by the Senate health, education, labour and pensions (Help) committee, comes as the US faces measles cases in several states and a widening outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico that has killed two people, as well as the threat of bird flu.

Weldon denied he was anti-vaccine and said in the letter he believed US senators including Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Help committee chairperson Bill Cassidy of Louisiana were voting against him.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the contents of the letter.

Weldon would have reported to Kennedy, who since his confirmation has made misleading comments on the role of measles vaccines and treatments.

In an interview with Fox News that aired on Tuesday, Kennedy downplayed the safety of the measles vaccine and suggested that natural immunity from a measles infection would provide better and longer-lasting protection.

Vaccination is the best way to prevent and stop the spread of the highly contagious disease that can be most serious for young children, according to public health experts.

Cassidy, a doctor who had expressed wariness about Kennedy’s anti-vaccine views but ultimately cleared the path for his confirmation, on Thursday said the nation is at a “critical moment in public health.”

“While the Covid-19 pandemic has ended, the loss of trust in public health and science agencies remains. This comes as the nation faces serious health threats like a measles outbreak, which has already claimed at least one life and hospitalised many more,” Cassidy said.

Weldon’s withdrawal was first reported by the Axios news outlet.

The Atlanta-based CDC, with an annual budget of $17.3bn, tracks and responds to domestic and foreign threats to public health. Roughly two-thirds of its budget provides funds to the public health and prevention activities of state and local health agencies.

“The health appointments by the Trump administration have been uniformly unqualified and destructive. Weldon was among the worst,” said Gregg Gonsalves, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health.

While in Congress, Weldon challenged studies demonstrating the safety of childhood vaccines, asserting they were harmful and linked with autism, a theory espoused by longtime vaccine sceptic Kennedy but debunked by scientists. Reuters has reported that the CDC does plan to study autism and vaccines.

In addition to measles, the new CDC director would be charged with helping lead the US response to the growing H5N1 bird flu outbreak, which has decimated poultry flocks and driven up egg prices, infiltrated dairy herds and infected 70 people in the US, resulting in one death.

Although the risk to the general public remains low, the risk to people in contact with infected animals or surfaces is moderate to high, according to CDC’s latest risk assessment.

Shares of vaccine makers initially rose after the withdrawal became public, but gave back most of those gains. Moderna shares, which had been up more than 5%, were about flat, as were Novavax shares. Pfizer was up less than 1% on another down day for the broader market.

Reuters