White House pulls nomination for head of CDC on day of confirmation hearing – reports

The Trump administration withdrew its nomination for head of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the day he was due to face a confirmation hearing, multiple outlets reported.

Two sources close to the Senate process said Dave Weldon, a doctor and former Republican Florida congressman, would not face a hearing as planned, according to Axios, which broke the news.

Weldon’s anti-vaccine views have been widely scrutinized. The new US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr – himself an anti-vaccine campaigner and a hugely controversial pick – said: “Weldon wasn’t ready, per one of the sources,” according to Axios.

In December, Dorit Reiss, a professor of law at UC Law San Francisco, told the Guardian Weldon, 71, was “definitely someone who’s very sympathetic to the anti-vaccine cause”.

When his nomination was announced, one prominent anti-vaccine activist wrote on Facebook: “He is one of us!! Since before our movement had momentum. Dream Come True.”

Nominations of anti-vaccine campaigners such as Weldon, Reiss said, “increase their legitimacy. It gives them a microphone … to express their views and promote this information.

“It sends a message that the Trump administration is willing to work with the anti-vaccine movement. And I think it also sends a message that science-based decisions are not the priority.”

News of Weldon’s withdrawal comes amid increasing concern over measles outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico.