OPINION:
Senators are considering nominees to fill critical positions in the Department of Health and Human Services this week. Among the most consequential is Dr. Dave Weldon, President Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Weldon has more than four decades of clinical experience treating patients in the Army, in private practice in Florida and as an unpaid volunteer in the Department of Veterans Affairs system, a role he served while a member of Congress. His policy and medical experience, moral clarity, commitment to public service and focus on sound science make him the right pick to lead and reestablish the public’s faith in the CDC.
Only about half of Americans trust the CDC, with confidence much lower among Republicans. This is likely spillover from the COVID mandates and the unnecessary and scientifically dubious woke agenda of the Biden administration.
The $10 billion agency is charged with protecting national security and the economy by rapidly identifying and responding to disease outbreaks and chronic health conditions.
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the CDC was tasked with sending grants to states so they could strengthen their emergency response systems. More recently, the agency led the response to Ebola in Africa. This is an ongoing reminder that viruses and diseases don’t recognize political borders. Communicable diseases, whether it’s Ebola or a coronavirus, can travel from central Africa or central China to middle America within days. To that end, the CDC must continue its disease tracking, surveillance and tracing capacity to keep Americans safe.
Unfortunately, there has been a widespread and misinformed assertion that Dr. Weldon is somehow “anti-vax.” This belies the facts of his personal life and his professional work.
As recently as last week, Dr. Weldon was in his medical office issuing the flu and pneumococcal vaccines to seniors, who are among the most at-risk populations for serious complications and hospitalizations. As a medical professional, Dr. Weldon received the COVID-19 vaccine and a booster in 2020 to continue treating patients in the local VA hospital. As a physician, he, of course, administered the vaccines on a regular schedule to his patients.
That doesn’t mean he advocates for treatments blindly.
Dr. Weldon is incredibly intelligent and thoughtful when providing medical counsel or policy recommendations.
There is little doubt that science is constantly evolving, and recognizing that evolution is critical to medical progress. One hundred and fifty years ago, President Garfield was killed at the hands of his doctor, who hadn’t taken to the emerging findings of scientists such as Joseph Lister, who advocated for sterilization as an antiseptic during surgery. Today, doctors not washing their hands or disinfecting their instruments before surgery would be unthinkable — but not then.
That’s just one example.
Over the past two decades, we’ve seen an evolution of science in vaccines. Today, the use of thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, has significantly declined in vaccines. Among the children’s vaccine schedules, a significant evolution was from the DTP to DTaP vaccine. Both are used to prevent diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough), but the newly formatted DTaP has fewer side effects than the original. We’ve also seen the eradication of polio and smallpox thanks to advanced medical science and the wide distribution of vaccines.
However, our country faces an emerging challenge. Some communities are losing “herd immunity” as large segments of localized populations refuse vaccination. The measles outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico have led to two deaths, with more expected. This is the first time in a decade that someone in the U.S. has died of the disease.
This isn’t because the vaccine is ineffective; it’s because parents aren’t getting their children vaccinated. Dr. Weldon has consistently supported the childhood vaccine schedule and understands that getting to the root of vaccine hesitancy is critical to increasing vaccine uptake rates and restoring immunity. There is little scientific debate that the widely tested and administered vaccines are very safe and the side effects are rare and much more tolerable than the consequences of the disease.
Mr. Trump’s Operation Warp Speed, including wide distribution of the COVID vaccine, likely saved about 3 million lives in the United States, but unnecessary lockdowns, school closures and mask mandates marred the public health benefit the vaccines brought and harmed our economy. It also led to a justified distrust of American public health systems throughout President Biden’s term in office.
Confirming Dr. Weldon, who would bring a much-needed, reasonable and science-based approach to the agency, would go a long way toward restoring that trust.
• Craig Stevens, a partner at DCI Group, served as Dr. Dave Weldon’s press secretary in 1999 and as a senior adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and Surgeon General Richard Carmona during the Bush administration.
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