Where is Trump’s CDC Director? Arrow

Trump administration fails to appoint a director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leaving the country's top public health agency without leadership

Donald Trump failed to meet the deadline this week to appoint a director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Because a nominee was not submitted, the position cannot be filled even in an acting capacity, leaving the agency without official leadership at a critical time.

The lack of leadership compounds the chaos in public health created by the Trump-Vance administration and comes at a particularly dangerous moment, as vaccine-preventable diseases are on the rise. Just today, the CDC confirmed that there have been 1,575 confirmed cases of measles across 32 jurisdictions in 2026 alone. Less than three months into the year, the U.S. has already reported 16 new outbreaks.

Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. has taken a wrecking ball to the CDC's vaccine advisory committee and upended the childhood vaccination schedule, dropping several routine vaccines. A recent federal court decision blocked the administration from implementing changes to the vaccine schedule, adding to the uncertainty surrounding federal vaccine policy.

Since Trump took office, the CDC has only operated with a Senate-confirmed director for less than a month. Former Trump-appointed CDC director Susan Monarez was fired because she refused to go along with RFK Jr.'s dangerous anti-vaccine agenda. Jay Bhattacharya, the head of the National Institutes of Health, was most recently serving as acting CDC director, and now the position will remain vacant as the administration struggles to find an appointee.

In response, DNC Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer released the following statement:

"Donald Trump and RFK Jr. continue to cause chaos and confusion in our public health system at the expense of American families. As preventable diseases spread across the country, responsible leadership at the CDC is more important than ever - and they have carelessly left the position vacant because they can't decide which quack to appoint to this essential public health position. Trump and RFK Jr. have been nothing short of a disaster for public health, and their actions are putting the health and safety of children and families at risk."

Because of Trump and RFK Jr., U.S. medical and health research has been decimated. RFK Jr. killed groundbreaking research programs, including $500 million in vaccine research. Trump gutted the federal agency responsible for mental health and addiction support and cancelled grants for combating addiction and overdoses, and the shutdown of the United States Agency for International Development has already killed hundreds of thousands.