The White House has decided to withdraw the appointment of his choice to drive the Disease Control and Prevention Centers, Dr. Dave Weldon, a former Congress of Republican Congress, just hours before hearing a hearing of the Senate, according to an official.
Officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose the decision, did not provide an explanation. But it was clear to the White House that Dr. Weldon did not have the votes in the full Senate to be confirmed, and Dr. Weldon said in an interview that he had learned about the decision last night.
Dr. Weldon, 71, was to appear before the Senate Health Committee on Thursday at 10am, the first time a manager of the service had undergone the confirmation process. The decision to disconnect the candidate was first mentioned by Axios.
His listening had to take place amid major measles epidemics in Texas and New Mexico, who have contaminated more than 250 people and claimed two lives. A time of influenza that led to a number of hospitalization number. and the potential for a bird flu epidemic.
He had repeatedly questioned the safety of the measles vaccine and criticized the CDC for not doing enough to prove that the vaccines were safe.
While in Congress, Dr. Weldon pushed to move the vaccine security office away from control of the CDC, saying that the body had a conflict of interest because it buys and promotes vaccines. It is also a powerful opponent of abortion.
Dr. Weldon was perhaps the least known of men who suspected to lead large organizations to the Ministry of Health and Human Services. But it was he who was more aligned with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new secretary of the nation’s health.
Dr. Weldon and Mr Kennedy maintained a 25 -year relationship. The Health Secretary reported Dr. Weldon’s criticism of the CDC along with his own.
Dr. Weldon served in Congress for 14 years, from 1995 to 2009.
Like Mr Kennedy, he had challenged the need for immunization of children against hepatitis B, describing it as mainly a sexually transmitted disease affecting adults.
He also claimed that abstinence is the most effective way to limit sexually transmitted infections. Cases have increased in recent years and only began to show signs of possible recession in 2023.
In an interview with the New York Times in late November, Dr. Weldon said he had worked “to get mercury out of the baby vaccines”, but described himself as a supporter of vaccination.
Both of his adult children are completely immunized, he said. As a doctor in the coastal Florida, he prescribes thousands of influenza doses and other vaccines in his patients.
“I have been described as anti-inflammation,” Dr. Weldon said, but added: “I give footage. I believe in vaccination.”
Members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee also questioned Mr Kennedy – who later approved – as well as Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya and Dr. Marty Makary, the respective candidates to lead the National Institutes of Food and Drugs.
(The hearing for Dr. Mehmet Oz, the candidate for the execution of centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is scheduled for Friday.)
In addition to a handful of harsh questions from the Commission President, Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican of Louisiana, comments from members have fallen largely along the party lines. Dr. Weldon’s listening is not expected to be different.
