By Alyssa Lukpat and Jennifer Calfas
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention appointed Louisiana Surgeon General Dr. Ralph Abraham as the second in command, the latest move in a year of upheaval for the agency.
Abraham, a vaccine skeptic, has been named the deputy principal director of the CDC. The agency has shuffled through multiple leaders since Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also a vaccine skeptic, began overseeing the CDC earlier this year.
Abraham was appointed the Louisiana surgeon general last year and later criticized government vaccine mandates. He condemned Covid-19 vaccine mandates earlier this year as "an offense against personal autonomy that will take years to overcome."
He represented Louisiana in Congress from 2015 to 2021 and is both a veterinarian and a family-medicine doctor.
Write to Alyssa Lukpat at alyssa.lukpat@wsj.com and Jennifer Calfas at jennifer.calfas@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 25, 2025 15:47 ET (20:47 GMT)
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