Louisiana Surgeon General Named to No. 2 Post at CDC

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) last week confirmed the appointment of Louisiana surgeon general Ralph Abraham, MD to be principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Abraham, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2015 to 2021 representing Louisiana’s 5th congressional district, will be second-in-command at the agency, next to acting director James O’Neill.^{1 2 3 4 5}

Abraham, who has been a practicing physician during the past two decades, has described himself as a “country doctor” concerned about the effect chronic diseases have had on his patients. “Chronic disease is rampant in our nation,” acknowledged Abraham in an article earlier this year and not that the United States has spent billions of dollars on health care, but has not “gotten a great return on that investment.”^{2 6} He wrote:

Previous administrations at the national and state levels have largely ignored the problem, or at least didn’t take it seriously enough to make policy changes that would actually improve health outcomes for residents of this state and nation. The status quo hasn’t worked, and our citizens deserve better. It is the responsibility of our leadership to embrace issues likes this and do everything possible to solve the problem.⁶

During his tenure as surgeon general over the past two years, Abraham was critical of the U.S. government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, believing that some of its public health policies were wrong. In another article earlier this year, he referred to these as “missteps.” He specified, “inaccurate and inconsistent guidance on masking, poor decisions to close schools, unjustifiable mandates on civil liberties, and false claims regarding natural immunity.”⁷

Abraham Critical of COVID Shots

Abraham reserved his strongest criticism for the COVID shots. He wrote:

[T]he greatest missteps were on vaccines and some continue to this day. Within months of their approval, COVID vaccines were shown to have no third-party benefit in terms of reduced transmission, yet they were still mandated—through both policy and social pressure. That was an offense against personal autonomy that will take years to overcome. Even now, the CDC recommends that 6-month-olds receive COVID vaccinations—woefully out of touch with reality and with most parents, who have less faith than ever in the merit of the CDC’s recommendations.⁷

In a post on X on Sept. 11, 2025, Abraham referred to the COVID shots as “dangerous.” He noted, “More deaths have been reported to VAERS after COVID vaccines than all other vaccines combined since tracking began in 1990” and that “DNA contaminants were found in the COVID vaccines, which far exceeded the FDA’s allowable limits—including the cancer-causing SV40 gene from monkeys.”⁸

Additionally, Abraham pointed out that the “largest ever observational study, including 99 million people, showed increased risk of myocarditis, pericarditis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, venous sinus thrombosis, and other serious adverse events following COVID vaccination” and that “myocarditis is more common and more severe after COVID vaccination than from the disease.”⁸

With regard to the efficacy of the COVID shots, Abraham acknowledged, “Several studies have shown zero to negative efficacy as the virus changes over time, including this one from the Cleveland Clinic, meaning that those who took the shot were more likely to get the disease.”⁸

Abraham No Fan of Government Health Care Mandates

Abraham has expressed concern about federal government overreach when it comes to health care decisions. He believes the government should “admit the limitations of its role in people’s lives and pull back its tentacles from the practice of medicine,” and that this should be the first step in re-establishing a trust that has been broken with the public.⁷ According to Abraham:

By demonstrating genuine integrity and respect for personal autonomy, public health agencies can begin to mend the rifts they’ve created. Ultimately, restoring this trust requires returning medical decisions to the doctor-patient relationship, where informed, personalized care is guided by compassion and expertise rather than blanket government mandates.⁷

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