The White House has withdrawn US President Donald Trump’s election of former Florida member Dr David Weldon to mind the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, when announced by the Republican-controlled Senate wellness council on Thursday.
The decision to withdraw the election came less than an afternoon before he was set to appear before the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions for his assurance reading.
The decision was made because Weldon lacked the necessary vote for validation, two publications familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Who is David Weldon?
- David Weldon, 71, is an internal medicine doctor best known for serving as a legislative rep for a central Florida area from 1995 to 2009.
- Though he maintained a fairly low profile in recent years, he resurfaced in the public attention when President Trump nominated him for CDC director in November.
- Weldon’s position on vaccines made him a popular candidate among supporters of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new Secretary of Health and Human Services.
- He has expressed suspicion toward established vaccine technology, and as recently as 2019, he promoted the baseless idea that vaccines may cause dementia.
- In 2007, Weldon co-authored a “vaccine health costs” alongside former Democrat Rep. Carolyn Maloney.
- The proposed act aimed to “provide the freedom necessary to ensure that vaccine health research is solid, objective, free from conflict of interest criticism, and widely accepted by the public at large”, Weldon said in a press release announcing the bill.
Earlier, Senator Patty Murray, a health committee member, expressed grave concerns about Weldon following their meeting. ” I was deeply disturbed to hear Dr Weldon repeat debunked claims about vaccines”, the Democrat said in a statement.
” It’s dangerous to put someone in charge at CDC who believes the lie that our rigorously tested childhood vaccine schedule is somehow exposing kids to toxic levels of mercury or causing autism”, Murray continued.
” As we face one of the worst measles outbreaks in years thanks to President Trump, a vaccine skeptic who spent years spreading lies about safe and proven vaccines should never have even been under consideration to lead the foremost agency charged with protecting public health”, she added.
Weldon is the third Trump administration nominee to withdraw before a confirmation hearing, following former US Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general and Chad Chronister for the Drug Enforcement Administration, according to the Associated Press.
