Ralph Abraham, a top Louisiana health official who stopped promoting mass vaccination policies and once described Covid-19 vaccines as “dangerous”, has been appointed deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it was revealed on Tuesday.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has not formally announced Abraham’s appointment, but the center’s internal database now lists Abraham as the federal agency’s principal deputy director, effective this week. Abraham’s appointment was confirmed to the Washington Post by an HHS spokesperson.

Abraham’s appointment is certain to cause renewed anxiety among health experts as rifts deepen over US vaccine policy under the leadership of the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr , who is reconstituting leadersh

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