{"id":405941,"date":"2025-11-26T12:21:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T12:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/405941\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T12:21:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T12:21:23","slug":"meet-ralph-lee-abraham-the-cdcs-new-second-in-command-who-believes-the-affordable-care-act-should-be-repealed-and-called-vaccines-dangerous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/405941\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Ralph Lee Abraham, the CDC\u2019s new second-in-command who believes the Affordable Care Act should be repealed and called vaccines \u2018dangerous\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Ralph Lee Abraham, the Louisiana surgeon general who halted his state\u2019s vaccine promotion campaigns and delayed warning the public about a deadly whooping cough outbreak, has quietly been installed as the second-highest official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Department of Health and Human Services did not announce this appointment. The news was first spotted by Dr. Jeremy Faust<\/a>, who runs the Substack called Inside Medicine.\u200b<\/p>\n

Abraham, a 70-year-old former Republican congressman<\/a> who served three terms representing Louisiana\u2019s 5th congressional district, started in his new role as principal deputy director on Nov. 23, according to the agency\u2019s internal database. The HHS has since confirmed<\/a> Abraham\u2019s appointment.\u200b<\/p>\n

The selection aligns the CDC\u2019s senior leadership with the views of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic<\/a>. Abraham has promoted discredited COVID-19 treatments including ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, and, according to Faust<\/a>, Abraham was the seventh-highest prescriber of ivermectin among Louisiana\u2019s roughly 12,000 practicing physicians in 2021, personally accounting for 1.1% of the state\u2019s prescriptions for the anti-parasitic drug. Clinical studies had already demonstrated ivermectin\u2019s ineffectiveness against COVID-19 by that time.\u200b<\/p>\n

In September, Abraham told the Shreveport Times<\/a> he believes the COVID vaccine is \u201cdangerous\u201d and does not recommend it to his own patients. At a state legislative meeting last September<\/a>, he claimed: \u201cI see, now, vaccine injury every day of my practice\u201d from COVID vaccines, though he did not specify the nature of these injuries. The claim contradicts extensive research<\/a> showing COVID vaccines significantly reduce hospitalizations and deaths.\u200b<\/p>\n

Abraham\u2019s record as Louisiana\u2019s top health official<\/a> has drawn sharp criticism. In February, he ordered the Louisiana Department of Health to cease promoting mass vaccination<\/a>\u2014a decision announced the same day Kennedy was confirmed as HHS secretary. Under his leadership, the state\u2019s health department delayed for months before alerting physicians and the public about a whooping cough outbreak that killed two infants, the state\u2019s first pertussis-related deaths since 2018.\u200b<\/p>\n

Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said the delayed response was atypical. \u201cParticularly for these childhood diseases, we usually jump all over these,\u201d Benjamin told NPR<\/a>. \u201cThese are preventable diseases and preventable deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u200bCDC agenda<\/p>\n

Dr. Nirav Shah, who served as CDC principal deputy director for two years before resigning earlier this year, told the New York Times<\/a> that Abraham is \u201cunqualified\u201d for the position. \u201cMy jaw hit the ground\u201d upon hearing of the appointment, Shah said, adding that a significant aspect of the role involves emergency response. He described the delayed notification about the pertussis deaths as \u201cnot just unacceptable, it\u2019s shameful.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n

As a congressman, Abraham consistently advocated for repealing the Affordable Care Act. \u201cYou should come to my practice in Mangham on a daily basis and I can show you the debacle of the ObamaCare law, if we can even call it that,\u201d he said during a 2014 congressional debate<\/a>. \u201cAs a practicing physician, right now, it\u2019s not working and it\u2019s even dangerous.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n

Notably, as NBC News points out<\/a>, there is no evidence Abraham is board-certified in family medicine, despite being described as a \u201cfamily medicine physician\u201d on official Louisiana state websites. The American Board of Family Medicine\u2019s online database does not list him as certified, and the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners identifies him only as a general practitioner. Abraham practiced veterinary medicine for a decade before obtaining his medical degree from the LSU School of Medicine in 1994.\u200b<\/p>\n

The appointment carries structural significance for the administration\u2019s health agenda. The CDC currently lacks a permanent director; acting director Jim O\u2019Neill, a former biotech executive without medical credentials, was installed in August<\/a> after Kennedy fired his predecessor. Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, acting directors can serve only 210 days\u2014a clock that runs out in late March unless a permanent nominee is named. As principal deputy director, however, Abraham can serve indefinitely without Senate confirmation, potentially giving Kennedy and the White House sustained influence over the agency\u2019s vaccine policies.\u200b<\/p>\n

Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the Republican chairman of the Senate Health Committee and a physician, has clashed publicly with Abraham over vaccine policy. In February, Cassidy criticized Abraham\u2019s decision<\/a> to halt mass vaccination campaigns, saying, \u201cRemoving these resources from parents is not a stand for parents\u2019 rights. It is making health care less convenient and available for Louisianans who are very busy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u200bFor this story,\u00a0Fortune\u00a0used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.<\/p>\n

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr. Ralph Lee Abraham, the Louisiana surgeon general who halted his state\u2019s vaccine promotion campaigns and delayed warning…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":405942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[7823,79599,210,1141,1142,191575,191576,191571,191570,191577,15010,191573,67,132,68,191574,191572],"class_list":{"0":"post-405941","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-covid","9":"tag-covid-vaccine","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-health-care","12":"tag-healthcare","13":"tag-jeremy-faust","14":"tag-louisiana-department-of-health","15":"tag-principal-deputy-director","16":"tag-ralph-lee-abraham","17":"tag-republican-congressman","18":"tag-robert-f-kennedy-jr","19":"tag-the-department-of-health-and-human-services","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-vaccine-injury","24":"tag-whooping-cough-outbreak"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115615975530173566","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}