White House Withdraws Dave Weldon’s CDC Nomination Amid Vaccine Controversy

Former Congressman’s Anti-Vaccine Record Sparks Scrutiny, Derailing Senate Confirmation

On March 13, 2025, the White House announced its decision to withdraw the nomination of Dave Weldon as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a move that came just hours before his scheduled Senate confirmation hearing. Weldon, a former Republican congressman from Florida and a physician by training, had been tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the agency, which plays a pivotal role in shaping public health policy and responding to national health crises. The decision to pull his nomination followed weeks of mounting scrutiny over his long-standing views on vaccine safety, particularly his repeated questioning of scientific consensus regarding the alleged link between vaccines and autism—a connection that has been thoroughly debunked by decades of research.

Weldon’s history as a vaccine skeptic stretches back to his 14-year tenure in Congress, from 1995 to 2009, where he emerged as a vocal figure in debates over immunization safety. During that time, he aligned himself with a small but vocal contingent of lawmakers and activists who sought to challenge the established scientific narrative. One notable instance came in 2001, when Weldon invited Andrew Wakefield, the discredited British physician whose fraudulent study falsely tied the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism, to testify before Congress. Wakefield’s work, later exposed as fabricated and leading to the revocation of his medical license, nonetheless fueled a wave of public doubt about vaccines—a wave that Weldon appeared to ride rather than resist. Even as large-scale studies repeatedly demonstrated no causal link between vaccines and autism, Weldon persisted in raising concerns, often framing them as a call for more transparency and research rather than outright rejection of immunization.