By Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) – U.S. National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, will take over as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a Trump administration official said on Wednesday.
The New York Times first reported the news on Wednesday.
Health and Human Services Deputy Security Jim O’Neill is currently acting CDC director, having taken over in August after HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr ousted the former director less than a month into her tenure.
President Donald Trump fired CDC Director Susan Monarez in August after she resisted changes to vaccine policy advanced by Kennedy that she believed contradicted scientific evidence, further destabilizing the already embattled agency.
Monarez’s firing triggered the resignations of four senior CDC officials who cited anti-vaccine policies and misinformation pushed by Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, and his team.
The CDC has faced mounting challenges under Kennedy’s leadership, including a shooting at its Atlanta headquarters in August.
O’Neill signed off in January on the United States ending its longstanding guidance that all children receive vaccines against flu and three other diseases, a sweeping change that advances one of Kennedy’s long-term goals.
He also signed off in October on a vaccine advisory panel’s recommendation against the use of a combined measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccine before the age of 4 years.
Kennedy had fired all of the panel’s members in June and replaced them with handpicked members, including several who have advocated against vaccines.
O’Neill will leave both his roles are part of a larger shakeup of health department leadership, and will be offered a different role in the administration not within HHS, the administration official told Reuters on Wednesday. His departure was first reported by Politico on Friday.
Kennedy announced wider changes to his team on Thursday, including the elevation of Chris Klomp as chief counselor at HHS tasked to oversee all operations of the department. Klomp currently serves as Deputy Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as well as Director of Medicare. Kennedy said he would retain his roles at CMS.
Kennedy also announced that Kyle Diamantas and Grace Graham will serve as senior counselors for the Food and Drug Administration and John Brooks as senior counselor for CMS.
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Additional reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones and Bhargav Acharya in Toronto; Editing by Costas Pitas and Nick Zieminski)
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