Louisiana surgeon general who halted state's mass vaccination campaign appointed No 2 at CDC

Dr. Ralph Abraham, who was Louisiana's surgeon general, is now serving as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s principal deputy director, the second-highest ranking post in the agency.

Abraham, as Louisiana's top health official, instructed instructed health department staffers in February to stop promoting mass vaccination for preventable illnesses, according to CNN.

“While we encourage each patient to discuss the risks and benefits of vaccination with their provider,” the health department “will no longer promote mass vaccination,” he wrote in an internal memo on the same day Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has also been critical of vaccinations, was sworn in as Health and Human Services secretary.

HHS did not announce Abraham’s hiring but confirmed his new role. Health newsletter Inside Medicine first reported the news, CNN also reports.