Flailing Trump can't find a CDC chief: report
President Donald Trump's search for a new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is in limbo, reported The New York Times, because he can't find anyone who supports some modicum of mainstream science on vaccines and embodies vaccine conspiracy theorist Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again movement.
The issue is that a CDC director who opposes vaccines is unlikely to have the votes in the Senate, said the report, greatly constraining Trump's ability to nominate someone who could work well with his Cabinet secretary.
"Under federal law, the White House has until midnight on Wednesday, 210 days since the previous director’s exit, to nominate a new candidate. But the administration faces a formidable challenge in finding a nominee who aligns with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again agenda while avoiding his unpopular stance on vaccines," said the report. "The White House has yet to find someone who fits with the Trump administration’s mission and can also win Senate confirmation, according to a person familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal decision-making."
Trump briefly confirmed a CDC director, Susan Monarez, in July, but after just a month in office, Kennedy fired her for not going along with the recommendations of a panel of his anti-vaccine allies. Since then, the CDC has been headed by National Institutes of Health director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya on an acting basis.
The president had tried to replace Monarez with Dr. Dave Weldon, a former Republican congressman known for being radically anti-abortion and for playing politics with the Terri Schiavo brain death case, but withdrew his name after failing to get the votes.
He has also nominated another anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist, Casey Means, to the role of surgeon general. After she declined to even endorse flu and measles vaccines during her confirmation hearing, her nomination appears to be in danger as multiple Republicans have reservations about her.