Louisiana’s top health official, a critic of the COVID vaccine, will be CDC deputy: shots

The second highest-ranking official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be Dr. Ralph Abraham, the head of the Louisiana Department of Health.

He has questioned the safety of the COVID vaccine and banned his department from promoting vaccines to the public.

Abraham will join the agency as deputy director, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services official who was not authorized to speak to the media about a personnel matter.

A former Republican congressman and doctor with a practice in Richland Parish, Abraham was a vocal supporter of the health minister Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.and shares some of his views on vaccines.

Abraham, 71, called COVID vaccines “dangerous.” During a state legislative session in September 2024, Abraham said he would support the investigation into the debunked connection between Vaccinations and autism.

The position has been vacant since then Dr. Nirav Shahwho served under the Biden administration resigned in February.

Shah called Abraham’s appointment “cruel.”

The CDC is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, which Kennedy leads. 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 was useful in furthering their views, Shah said.

“With the addition of Dr. Abraham, they now have a scientific sheen to add to their anti-vaccine theories,” Shah said.

“It gives Secretary Kennedy some scientific and medical cover for her vile and unscientific beliefs,” he added.

Abraham was appointed Louisiana’s first surgeon general in 2024 under a Republican governor Jeff Landry.

Soon after, Abraham moved Ban on advertising of COVID, flu and MPox vaccines from the state health department. He then all vaccination advertising and events banned from the Department of Health and Human Services in February, hours after Kennedy was confirmed as health secretary.

In late 2024, pertussis cases in Louisiana began to rise and eventually grew 387 casesthe worst whooping cough outbreak in the state in 35 years.

Early in the outbreak, two infants died from the disease. Young children are not eligible for their first whooping cough vaccination until they are 2 months oldbut they can gain immunity if their mother was vaccinated during pregnancy.

According to the infant deaths Abraham’s health department waited three months before issuing an official warning to doctors and warning the public in a press release.

“Dr. Abraham’s record shows that his instinct is to sweep a public health emergency under the rug,” Shah said.

In the case of the next pandemic, “this could be the difference between getting a major outbreak under control or letting it fester and explode,” he added.

The principal deputy director is the CDC’s second-in-command, he said Anne Schuchatwho worked there for 33 years, including as deputy chief director from 2015 to 2021.

Most of the appointments are CDC employees who have been with the agency for many years and have experience in crisis management and emergency response to public health threats, she said.

Duties can range from overseeing all aspects of the CDC’s work in the U.S. to coordinating emergency response to outbreaks around the world.

Schuchat called Abraham’s appointment “scary.”

“This appears to be another step away from health and toward danger,” Schuchat said. “We know that vaccinations save lives, protect health and prevent outbreaks, and ideology should not be more important than the evidence.”

In the Louisiana legislature, Abraham sponsored bills to do so Ban fluoride in public water systemsand to expand access to it Ivermectin to treat COVIDdespite Evidence shows it is not effective against COVID. The Fluoride Act failed, but the Ivermectin Act passed.

Selecting Abraham for the position was an “irresponsible decision,” he said Lawrence GostinProfessor of Global Health Law at Georgetown University.

“Dr. Abraham has little faith in science and will likely further undermine the CDC’s credibility,” he said.

HHS has not said when Abraham will begin his new role.

This story comes from NPR’s partnership with WWNO And KFF Health News.