US Health Department official signals progress on selecting new CDC head

Source: Reuters

March 19, 2026 6:21 PM EDT Updated 8 hours ago


March 19 (Reuters) - A top U.S. health official said on Thursday he was ‌encouraged by interviews to select the next leader of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, signaling progress toward stabilizing the agency after wrangling over vaccination policy threw it into turmoil.

The Health and Human Services Department's chief counselor, Chris Klomp, said he was optimistic about ​prospects for a new head of the CDC, after a shakeup last month that included removing Health and Human ​Services Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill from the post of acting CDC director.

Health Secretary Robert F. ⁠Kennedy Jr.'s overhaul of vaccine policies has upset the government's public health apparatus, which has the CDC at its ​core, while his shakeup of the CDC's vaccines advisory committee has run into legal snags, raising the prospect that ​the committee may again be disbanded. "I'm excited about (the) number of people that I've had the privilege to get to meet (and) interview and I'm very optimistic that we will select... an excellent leader for that agency," Klomp said at a health conference held by Stat News.

A ​federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked key parts of Kennedy's vaccines overhaul, including most of his appointments to the CDC's ​vaccines advisory committee and changes to childhood vaccine recommendations. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has said it would appeal ‌the decision.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/hhs-chief-counselor-says-encouraged-by-candidates-vying-lead-cdc-2026-03-19/