CDC deputy director abruptly departs agency
By Jamie Gumbrecht, Brenda Goodman, CNN
(CNN) — Dr. Ralph Abraham is leaving the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where has been serving as principal deputy director, the agency said Monday. It’s the latest in a string of leadership changes that have shaken the health agency during the second Trump administration.
Abraham, who was sworn in on December 15, “chose to step down to address unforeseen family obligations,” according to a statement posted on the CDC’s website.
“It has been an honor to serve alongside the dedicated public health professionals at the CDC and to support the agency’s critical mission,” Abraham said in the statement.
Abraham’s exit follows the departure of the CDC’s acting director, Jim O’Neill, who left his role at the US Department of Health and Human Services in an ongoing shakeup ahead of this year’s midterm elections. The director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, stepped in to the role of acting director of CDC this month.
After months without a permanent director following the abrupt removal of Dr. Susan Monarez — the Senate-confirmed CDC director who spent less than a month in office after she refused to rubber stamp anti-vaccine policy changes — Abraham was seen by some as an affable and somewhat steadying presence. He was working out of the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta and was a medical doctor, a qualification recent Trump appointees had lacked.
Like HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Abraham promoted health freedom and expressed skepticism about vaccines. Last month, Abraham said the United States’ potential loss of measles elimination status was “not really” a concern, saying it’s “just the cost of doing business with our borders.”
Abraham’s departure is the latest blow to an agency that’s been gutted under the Trump administration.
The churn of top personnel follows the firings of thousands of agency staff though reduction-in-force cuts. After public outcry and legal challenges, some of those positions were later reinstated.
The agency also remains rattled after it was the target of a violent attack by a shooter who had blamed vaccines for his health problems. DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose was killed, and buildings were left pocked with bullet holes.
The agency has also seen its website altered without input from its career scientists to cast doubt on the safety of vaccines and to remove references to transgender identity and transgender health concerns.
Before coming to the CDC, Abraham was the surgeon general of Louisiana. In that post, Abraham controversially ordered health officials to stop promoting mass vaccination. Abraham also ran for governor of Louisiana in 2019 but did not advance to a runoff.
The-CNN-Wire
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