The White House has pulled the president Donald TrumpFormer Rep. Dave Weldon, a former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nominee, Dave Weldon, confirmed Thursday, the Senate Health Committee confirmed Thursday.
The move comes hours before the Republican former Florida legislator (vaccine critic) Settings appear Confirmation hearings are held before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee. The panel said the hearing was scheduled at 10 a.m. ET, Cancel.
Axios First Report Thursday’s decision. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. HHS, who leads the Department of Health and Human Services, oversees the CDC and all other federal health agencies, according to Axios.
Weldon said he was happy to work with Kennedy and serve the country again, The New York Times Report Thursday.
“It’s a shock, but in some ways, it’s alleviated,” Weldon told the newspaper. “The government job requires a lot of you, and I’m fine with it if God doesn’t want me to attend.”
He said he plans to “take a plane at 11 o’clock, I’m going home, and I’ll see a patient on Monday.”
“I will make more money in my medical practice,” Welton added.
But Weldon’s view fits closely with the notorious vaccine skeptic Kennedy. Weldon, 71, has long questioned the safety of certain vaccines False claim Linking vaccines to autism. In 2006, Weldon appears Parents claim the CDC has masked the evidence to connect the vaccine to children with autism.
Despite decades of research debunking Kennedy, the CDC will reportedly re-examine contacts under Kennedy.
During Congress, Weldon sponsored a bill that would shift responsibility for vaccine safety from the CDC. He claimed the agency had a conflict of interest because it purchased and promoted vaccines. The bill never became a committee of the past.
Weldon is an internal medicine physician who served in Congress for 14 years from 1995 to 2009.
Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat and member of the Help Committee, said she was “deeply troubled” by Weldon’s false claims about the vaccine.
“While I have little confidence in the Trump administration doing so, they should nominate someone for the position that believes in the least basic science and will help lead important CDC efforts to monitor and prevent fatal outbreaks,” Murray said in a statement Thursday.
She added that Kennedy is already doing immeasurable damage by spreading lies and disinformation by spreading lies and becoming the top health official in the United States.”
HHS did not immediately respond to the request to comment on why the administration nominated Weldon and when Trump could choose another person to take the position.
