Dr. Ralph Abraham speaks at a Trump re-election rally in Lake Charles, Louisiana on October 11, 2019. At the time, Abraham was a Republican congressman running for governor of Louisiana. He lost that race, but was named the state's first surgeon general in 2024.
Gerald Herbert/AP
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Gerald Herbert/AP
The second-ranking official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be Dr. Ralph Abraham, head of the Louisiana Department of Health.
He questioned the safety of the COVID vaccine and banned his department from advertising vaccines to the public.
Abraham will join the agency as principal deputy director, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services official who was not authorized to speak to the media about personnel matters.
A former Republican congressman and physician practicing in Richland County, Abraham was an active supporter of the Minister of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr.and shares some of his views on vaccines.
Abraham, 71, named COVID vaccines”dangerousDuring the September 2024 state legislature, Abraham said he would support an investigation into the debunked connection between vaccines and autism.
The position has been vacant since then Dr. Nirav Shahwho served under the Biden administration, resigned in February.
The Shah called Abraham's appointment “brutal.”
The CDC is part of Kennedy's Department of Health and Human Services. The current acting director of the CDC is Jim O'Neillwho most recently worked as an investor.
Because neither Kennedy nor O'Neill are doctors or scientists, Abraham's medical degree is useful in promoting their views, Shah said.
“With Dr. Abraham coming in, they now have a scientific veneer that they can put on their anti-vaccine theories,” Shah said.
“It gives Secretary Kennedy some scientific and medical cover for their odious and unscientific beliefs,” he added.
Abraham was appointed as Louisiana's first surgeon general in 2024 under a Republican governor. Jeff Landry.
Soon after this Abraham moved to ban promotion of COVID, influenza and smallpox vaccines State Department of Health. Then he banned all vaccine advertising and events by the Department of Health in February, hours after Kennedy was confirmed as health secretary.
In late 2024, the number of pertussis cases in Louisiana began to rise and eventually reached 387 casesthe state's worst whooping cough outbreak in 35 years.
Two infants died from the disease early in the outbreak. Infants are not eligible for their first whooping cough vaccine until they reach 2 monthsbut they can acquire immunity if their mother was vaccinated during pregnancy.
After child deaths, Abraham Health Department waited three months before issuing a formal warning to doctors and warning the public in a press release.
“Dr. Abraham's track record shows that when there is a public health emergency, his instinct is to cover it up,” Shah said.
In the next pandemic, “this could mean the difference between controlling a major outbreak and allowing it to grow and explode,” he added.
He is the second-in-command at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to the principal deputy director. Ann Shuchathaving worked there for 33 years, including as chief deputy director from 2015 to 2021.
Most of the appointees are CDC employees who have worked at the agency for many years and have experience in crisis management and emergency response to public health threats, she said.
Responsibilities can range from overseeing every aspect of CDC operations in the United States to coordinating emergency response to outbreaks around the world.
Schuchat called Abraham's appointment “scary.”
“This appears to be another step from health to danger,” Schuchat said. “We know that vaccinations save lives, protect health and prevent outbreaks, and ideology should not trump facts.”
In the Louisiana Legislature, Abraham supported bills ban fluoride in public water suppliesand expand access to ivermectin for the treatment of COVIDdespite evidence that it is not effective against COVID. The fluoride bill failed, but the ivermectin bill passed.
Choosing Abraham for the position was an “irresponsible choice,” he said. Lawrence GostinProfessor of Global Health Law at Georgetown University.
“Dr. Abraham has little confidence in science and will likely further undermine confidence in the CDC,” he said.
HHS has not said when Abraham will begin his new role.
This story stems from NPR's partnership with WWNO And KFF health news.
