CDC deputy director abruptly resigns from role as agency reels from turnover | Trump administration

Ralph Abraham, deputy director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has resigned, the agency announced Monday, marking the second departure of a top official in February.

The agency, known as the CDC, temporarily led by Dr Jay Bhattacharya, said the separation was effective immediately and was attributed to unforeseen family obligations. There was no comment on who would replace Ibrahim.

Abraham’s exit follows Jim O’Neill’s on February 13. O’Neill had been acting director of the CDC since August and also served as assistant secretary at the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Abraham was second in command at the CDC and started there on January 5. He was most recently the surgeon general of Louisiana, where he led a movement to halt support for mass vaccination and criticized Covid-19 vaccines.

The CDC has been hit by budget cuts, staff losses and a series of controversies under HHS secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr., who fired his own appointed director, Susan Monarez, a long-time vaccine skeptic.

Monarez was fired in August after resisting changes to vaccine policy developed by Kennedy that he believed contradicted scientific evidence.

His departure led to the resignation of four senior officials who cited anti-vaccine policies and misinformation pushed by Kennedy.

On Wednesday, Bhattacharya, who is also director of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), took office as acting director of the CDC. Trump administration sources said the moves were part of positioning ahead of midterm elections in November.

The US vaccine advisory committee meeting scheduled by the CDC for late February will not be held and a new date will not be announced, Reuters recently reported.