As a top federal health official, Dr. Nirav Shah said he witnessed how the transition to the Trump administration resulted in what he described as attacks on the nation’s public health systems.

The former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention was hired by the Biden administration in 2023 to serve as principal deputy director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and stayed on for about six weeks this year to help during the transition to the Trump administration.

In a wide-ranging interview on Friday , Shah, who led the Maine CDC during the coronavirus pandemic, said he is considering a run for Maine governor in 2026 as a Democrat and expressed concerns about the future of public health in the U.S.

He’s not alone in criticizing the Trump admi

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