White House Delays CDC Director Nomination, Continues Search for Permanent Chief

At an all-hands CDC staff meeting Wednesday, Jay Bhattacharya said he expected "that there will be a permanent director nominated by tomorrow, but if not, I do not expect that much will change," according to a person at the CDC who listened to the meeting. By Thursday, no nomination had come.

The Trump administration had been expected to nominate a new director for the CDC this week, but the White House was not ready to name its pick, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The administration faced a Thursday statutory deadline for Bhattacharya to continue serving as acting CDC head without a permanent replacement being nominated.

Bhattacharya, who is also director of the National Institutes of Health, "will continue to oversee the CDC by performing the delegable duties of the CDC director," HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement, though he may no longer hold the title of acting director, which he has had since last month. HHS said it feels confident that having Bhattacharya remain in his role, without the title, is legal and will withstand any challenges.

A federal law called the Vacancies Act limits the amount of time an acting officer can serve in place of a Senate-confirmed official to 210 days. An HHS spokesperson said Bhattacharya would continue in the part-time leadership role at the agency, but would be unable to perform some of the tasks of director or acting director going forward — those functions, called non-delegable in the legislation, will have to be done by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Nixon said that "Secretary Kennedy and Chris Klomp are working with the White House on the CDC director search by evaluating candidates that can further the Trump administration's objective of restoring the CDC to its original mission of fighting infectious disease." The Washington Post reported that about six candidates are under consideration, including former Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher, Mississippi health director Daniel Edney, and cardiologist Joseph Marine.

Bhattacharya is the third leader the CDC has had since last summer. Susan Monarez, who was confirmed by the Senate, led the agency for 28 days before she was fired by Kennedy after she refused to preemptively sign off on vaccine policy, after which Jim O'Neill became acting director. Before Monarez, the White House had withdrawn Trump's first nomination for CDC head, Dr. Dave Weldon, a Republican former congressman from Florida, the night before his confirmation hearing after it appeared he would not have the votes to be confirmed.

Kayla Hancock, director of the Public Health Project with Protect Our Care, called the missed deadline evidence of "incompetence and neglect," saying there has "never been any sense of urgency from Donald Trump and RFK Jr. around the department tasked with keeping Americans safe from dangerous disease."

The criticism lands against a worsening public health backdrop. Measles cases in the U.S. are at their highest level in three decades, putting the country at risk of losing its status as having eliminated ongoing transmission of the disease, while whooping cough and mumps have also surged as vaccination rates have dropped. Polls show that trust in U.S. health agencies has plummeted during Kennedy's tenure.

Beyond the director vacancy, other top jobs at the CDC remain unfilled, including principal deputy director and chief medical officer, positions that help determine which programs receive funding and resources. The delay comes as the Trump administration navigates mounting political and operational risks that have already complicated other high-profile health appointments.