White House withdraws Weldon's nomination

In November, President Donald Trump named Dave Weldon as his nominee for CDC director, a position that requires Senate confirmation. Weldon is a medical doctor and former congressman who represented Florida in the House from 1995 to 2008.

"Americans have lost trust in the CDC and in our Federal Health Authorities, who have engaged in censorship, data manipulation, and misinformation," said Trump at the time of Weldon's nomination. "Given the current Chronic Health Crisis in our Country, the CDC must step up and correct past errors to focus on the Prevention of Disease."

On Thursday, the White House withdrew Weldon's nomination for CDC director right before he was scheduled to meet with the Senate HELP committee. According to people familiar with the situation, the White House had determined that Weldon did not have the support necessary to win confirmation from the full Senate.

"He had the votes to get out of committee, [but] he didn't have the votes to get out of the full Senate," the person said, calling it a "dead man walking situation."

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According to Weldon, the withdrawal of his nomination as CDC director was "a shock, but, you know, in some ways [it was a] relief."

"The president is a busy man doing good work for our nation and the last thing he needs is a controversy about CDC," Weldon said, adding, "Hopefully they can find someone for CDC who can survive the confirmation process and get past pharma and find some answers."

According to the Washington Post, both public health advocates and various Democrats have celebrated Weldon's withdrawal, saying that his record of vaccine skepticism was disqualifying.

"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," said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a former chair of the Senate HELP Committee.

Some Republicans have also said that the withdrawal of Weldon's nomination was not surprising.

"I think it makes sense," said Sen. Thom Thillis (R-N.C.). "Some of us who had some concerns with [Secretary] Kennedy's previous statements got past that because we believed that scientists running some of these three-letter health agencies are going to be driven by data, are going to be driven by science." Thillis said that Weldon's "past comments have raised enough questions" about whether his policies at CDC would be driven by science.

Currently, it's not clear who will be nominated as CDC director in Weldon's place.

"One possibility is that the Senate is becoming very sensitive to the negative press that's surrounding all of RFK Jr.'s antivax activity and they didn't want more of it," said Paul Offit, a vaccine expert and professor of pediatrics at the Children's Hospital Philadelphia. "The second possibility is they're just going to pick another anti-vaccine, science-denying conspiracy theorist."

According to the Post, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who currently chairs the Senate HELP Committee, could have an opportunity to influence who is nominated for CDC director. Cassidy, a physician, had wrestled with voting to advance Kennedy as HHS Secretary. Ultimately, he voted for Kennedy after securing promises from the Trump administration that he could provide input on other senior health positions.