Ralph Abraham, the Louisiana state surgeon general who has criticized COVID vaccines, will now be deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s a position that empowers you to make various public health decisions at the agency charged with preventing infectious disease outbreaks.
This designation has caused controversy because Abraham has even been accused of wanting to withdraw vaccination programs in Louisiana, such as campaigns to encourage people to get vaccinated against influenza, which this year consists of a strain that has been especially virulent.
Louisiana is one of the states that has reported the most flu and influenza infections this season.
Abraham’s skepticism joins that of other figures who have the power to decide how to address issues of the well-being of all Americans, such as Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who have spread conspiracy theories about vaccines and medications such as acetaminophen without evidence.
In recent months, Kennedy Jr. has fired other CDC medical experts to appoint close associates in their place. Specialists have said that there is serious danger of preventable diseases returning to the country.
Abraham’s appointment has not been publicly announced yet, but was confirmed to NBC News, sister network of Noticias Telemundo.
Distrust in vaccines has been growing in recent years in the United States, especially when it comes to immunizing minors: a Gallup poll found that only 40% of parents consider it important to vaccinate their children when that figure was 58% in 2019.
Along with this growing mistrust and lack of vaccination, diseases such as measles have reemerged, which had long been considered eliminated in the United States. This year, several children have died from measles despite the fact that it can be prevented by vaccines that have existed for decades.
Specialists such as Richard Besser, a pediatrician who was acting director of the CDC in 2009, have said they are concerned that Abraham’s appointment will result in decisions that will not be beneficial to Americans.
“I think Abraham, instead of being someone who will level the positions of the secretary (Kennedy Jr.), is someone who will continue to push them,” Besser told NBC News.
In Louisiana, Abraham has also been criticized because he did not immediately alert the public about cases of whooping cough and instead waited several months during which the disease could continue to spread without the public’s knowledge.
Abraham has also promoted drugs such as leucovorin, originally intended for cancer patients with anemia, on social media, saying it can supposedly help children diagnosed with autism.
There is very little evidence that there are overall benefits for these people from that drug. But under Kennedy Jr., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also promoted leucovorin as a suspected treatment.
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