Louisiana’s surgeon general and former House member Ralph Abraham will assume the No. 2 position at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a department spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.

Abraham, an outspoken critic of mass vaccination and strong supporter of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA agenda, will be CDC’s principal deputy director. The appointment was not announced by the agency.

As the state’s surgeon general, Abraham downplayed seasonal vaccination and has sparred with Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a fellow Louisianan, over Cassidy’s pro-vaccine stances.

President Donald Trump has not nominated a new director to lead the agency, charged with public health and preventing the spread of communicable diseases, after former director Susan Monar

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