The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s second-ranking post will be filled by Dr. Ralph Abraham, Louisiana’s surgeon general, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said. Abraham will serve as principal deputy director of the CDC.
Abraham, 71, is a physician, former Republican congressman and a vocal supporter of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., sharing some of Kennedy’s skeptical views on vaccines. As Louisiana’s first surgeon general, appointed in 2024 by Governor Jeff Landry, Abraham moved to prohibit his state health department from promoting COVID, flu and mpox vaccines and later banned all vaccine promotion and department-sponsored vaccine events.
He has publicly questioned COVID vaccine safety, calling the vaccines “dangerous,” and during a 2024 state legislative meeting said he would support investigating the debunked link between vaccines and autism. In the legislature he backed bills to ban fluoride in public water systems and to expand access to ivermectin for COVID treatment; the fluoride bill failed while the ivermectin measure passed despite evidence that ivermectin is not effective against COVID.
Critics say Abraham’s tenure in Louisiana has shown reluctance to act during public-health emergencies. In late 2024 and 2025, Louisiana experienced its worst whooping cough outbreak in 35 years, with 387 cases and two infant deaths. Infants cannot receive their first pertussis vaccine until two months old but can be protected if their mothers were immunized during pregnancy. After the infant deaths, Abraham’s department waited about three months to issue an official alert to physicians and a public press release, drawing criticism that he “sweeps” public-health emergencies under the rug.
The principal deputy director role, vacant since Dr. Nirav Shah resigned in February, is second in command at the CDC and can include overseeing the agency’s domestic work and coordinating global emergency responses. Anne Schuchat, who served as CDC principal deputy director from 2015 to 2021, described Abraham’s appointment as “scary,” saying it moves “one more step away from health and towards danger” and warning that ideology should not outweigh evidence about vaccines saving lives and preventing outbreaks.
Shah called the selection “atrocious,” and said Abraham’s medical degree may give Kennedy and the department a “scientific gloss” for anti-vaccine theories. Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown University global health law professor, called the pick “irresponsible,” saying Abraham has little trust in science and could erode CDC credibility.
The CDC falls under HHS, led by Secretary Kennedy; the CDC’s acting director is Jim O’Neill, who previously worked as an investor and is not a physician. HHS has not announced Abraham’s start date.
This story is from NPR’s partnership with WWNO and KFF Health News.