Trump pulls CDC head nomination as FDA, CDC picks advance

President Donald Trump has withdrawn his nomination of Dave Weldon to lead the CDC, just hours before he was due to appear in front of a Senate confirmation hearing, which has now been cancelled.

Weldon (pictured above) – a former Florida congressman and a medical doctor – has courted controversy in recent years by questioning the safety of vaccines, and has been particularly outspoken on the now-debunked view that vaccines can cause autism. Whilst in office, he tabled a bill to ban mercury-based preservative thimerosal from vaccines.

Weldon's vaccine scepticism does not seem to be far removed from the stance of Trump's Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, who was sworn into the role last month, and he has also been a vocal opponent of abortion rights.

Kennedy has already made decisions that have rattled the vaccines sector – including cancelling two advisory committee meetings and heading up a probe into the safety of vaccines and other medicines – raising fears of anti-vaccine sentiment seeping into the HHS agencies, including the CDC and FDA.

A report on Axios – which broke the news – has suggested that Weldon had been unable to secure the number of votes needed to push his confirmation through, and had not garnered Kennedy's support, who felt he was "not ready" to take on the role.

The CDC has an annual budget of $17.3 billion and employed around 13,000 staffers ahead of sweeping cuts to its workforce imposed by Elon Musk, currently running Trump's department of government efficiency (DOGE).

In a post on X, Democratic senator Patty Murray said: "During one of the worst measles outbreaks in years because of Trump, Weldon should NEVER have even been under consideration to lead CDC. While I have little to no confidence in Trump to do so, he should nominate someone who at bare minimum believes in basic science."

FDA, NIH picks move forward

News that Weldon's nomination had been withdrawn came as Trump's picks for the head of the FDA and NIH – Martin Makary and Jay Bhattacharya, respectively, who have already faced their nomination hearings – were backed by the Senate Health, Education, Labour and Pensions (HELP) committee.

Their nominations will now advance to a full Senate vote, where the Republican majority will likely mean their positions will be confirmed. The panel voted 14 to nine in support of Makary, with two Democrats swapping sides to support Republican lawmakers, while Bhattacharaya's vote was split 12 to 11 on party lines.