NEW YORK (AP) — The White House withdrew the nomination of former Florida congressman Dr. David Weldon to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because he wasn’t assured of getting enough Republican support to be confirmed.
The Republican-controlled Senate health committee announced Thursday morning that it was canceling a planned hearing on Weldon’s nomination — less than an hour before it was scheduled to begin.
A White House assistant told Weldon on Wednesday night that his nomination was being withdrawn because “there were not enough votes to get me confirmed,” the ex-congressman said in a statement.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican and committee member, told reporters she had relayed her concerns about Weldon’s vaccine skepticism both to him directly and to the White House. Two other Republicans who have voiced concerns about the administration’s direction on vaccines, Sens. Bill Cassidy and Susan Collins, said they had not decided whether to support or oppose his confirmation.
Weldon was considered to be closely aligned with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. health secretary who for years has been one of the nation’s leading anti-vaccine activists.