The principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Ralph Abraham, abruptly stepped down from his position Monday, the agency announced, citing “unforeseen family obligations.”
Abraham had been in the high-level position — second in command — for just three months. The departure is effective immediately, the CDC said.
“It has been an honor to serve alongside the dedicated public health professionals at the CDC and to support the agency’s critical mission,” Abraham said in a statement posted on the CDC’s website.
The agency has largely been without its most-senior leadership for the majority of President Donald Trump’s second term. Abraham’s departure is the latest in a string of high-profile exits from the CDC.
Earlier this month, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, was tapped to serve as acting director of the CDC.
Bhattacharya replaced former acting Director Jim O’Neill, who held the role for several months after Susan Monarez was fired from her job as director of the agency last August. Monarez served only 29 days in the role and later testified before Congress that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had pressured her to preapprove vaccine recommendations “regardless of the scientific evidence.”
Following Monarez’s departure, four senior CDC officials resigned in protest, citing ongoing vaccine misinformation they said was coming from Department of Health and Human Services leadership.
Prior to his CDC appointment, Abraham served as Louisiana’s surgeon general. While he was in that role, the state’s health department waited several months to formally alert the public about a rise in whooping cough cases. By that time, two babies had died of the illness.
Abraham’s also long been critical of Covid vaccines, suggesting without providing evidence that the shots are harmful.
While he was with the CDC, Abraham appeared to brush off the threat that the U.S. could lose its measles elimination status because of ongoing outbreaks. During a media briefing in January, he referred to the possibility as “the cost of doing business, with our borders being somewhat porous [and] global and international travel.”
It was the only time Abraham addressed national media.
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