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Dr. Ralph Abraham, who as Louisiana’s surgeon general ordered the state health department to stop promoting vaccinations and who has called COVID-19 vaccines “dangerous,” has been named the second in command at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Department of Health and Human Services did not announce the appointment, and many CDC employees seemed unaware of it. But the CDC’s internal database lists Abraham as the agency’s principal deputy director, with a start date of Nov. 23.
A spokesperson for HHS confirmed Abraham’s new position but declined to comment further. Abraham did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Abraham’s views on some issues align with those of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He has endorsed avoiding Tylenol in pregnancy except “when absolutely necessary” because of a possible link to autism. He has also backed ending routine immunization for hepatitis B at birth and removing from vaccines such ingredients as aluminum salts, which are added to enhance the immune response.
Abraham spent decades as a physician and a veterinarian before winning a congressional seat representing Louisiana in 2014. He retired from Congress in 2020.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Abraham backed hydroxychloroquine, a medication normally used to treat or prevent malaria, and supported making ivermectin, a drug for parasitic infections in animals and humans, available over the counter. Both drugs have been shown to be ineffective against COVID.
Abraham was appointed as Louisiana’s surgeon general in 2024.
At the CDC, Abraham will be the highest ranked official with a medical degree. The agency does not have a permanent director and the acting director, Jim O’Neill, is a former biotechnology executive.
As a top health official, Abraham halted the state health department’s mass vaccination campaigns. While childhood vaccines are “an important part of providing immunity to our children,” he said, conversations about “whether or not a vaccine is right for a specific person, are best had with the individual’s health care provider.”
Under his leadership, Louisiana’s health department waited two months to alert residents about a whooping cough, or pertussis, outbreak in the state that had caused two deaths. Health departments typically quickly alert the public about outbreaks and set up mass vaccination campaigns.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
