(Georgia Recorder) – The Trump administration has withdrawn its nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
President Donald Trump nominated former Florida U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon in late November and he was scheduled to testify at a confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, or HELP, Committee on Thursday morning.
The hearing, which was canceled shortly before it was set to begin, was expected to include questions about reports the CDC is planning to fund a study revisiting whether there might be links between autism and vaccines.
Numerous scientific studies have shown that vaccines do not cause autism.
Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., as well as members of the HELP Committee from both political parties, have pressed some of Trump’s nominees to recognize that fact during confirmation hearings.
Axios was the first to report the news.
The White House official declined to answer questions about when Trump might nominate another person to lead the CDC, based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, who used to lead the HELP Committee, wrote in a statement that “a vaccine skeptic who spent years spreading lies about safe and proven vaccines should never have even been under consideration to lead the foremost agency charged with protecting public health.”
“RFK Jr. is already doing incalculable damage by spreading lies and disinformation as the top health official in America,” Murray wrote, referring to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “While I have little to no confidence in the Trump administration to do so, they should immediately nominate someone for this position who at bare minimum believes in basic science and will help lead CDC’s important work to monitor and prevent deadly outbreaks.”
