CDC Pick Rejected Multiple Vaccine/Autism Studies

The Washington Post reports:

The world’s most respected infectious-disease agency needed a new leader. Anti-vaccine activists knew just the man: Dave Weldon, a Florida physician and former seven-term Republican congressman who had for years expressed concerns about the safety of vaccines.

A Washington Post review of Weldon’s public comments, media appearances and congressional letters along with accounts of those who worked with him reveal a portrait of a politician and physician who emphasized the experiences of individuals while dismissing dozens of studies based on data from hundreds of thousands of patients that showed no link between vaccines and autism.

In Congress, Weldon was “absolutely and completely dismissive” of data showing vaccines were not associated with autism, recalled Josh Sharfstein, a former Democratic staff member on the House Government Reform Committee in the early 2000s when the Republicans who were in charge held regular hearings questioning vaccine safety.

Read the full article. An anti-abortion activist, Weldon has also led a consortium of scam Christian health insurance “sharing” programs.

Dr. Dave Weldon is an extremist with zero public health experience who has spent years promoting anti-vaccine conspiracy thinking and junk health plans—and who wrote the Weldon Amendment allowing providers to deny women essential abortion care.

He is a dangerous pick to lead… pic.twitter.com/s7HHINbz9T

— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) November 25, 2024