Deputy HHS secretary selected as acting CDC director, Washington Post reports

Reuters ^ | August 28, 2025 | Ismail Shakil and Jasper Ward

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The White House on Thursday chose Jim O’Neill, the deputy secretary of Health and Human Services, to serve as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control...

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I don't know a lot about this guy. I guess we'll see. I would say this: In the current CDC and vaccine turmoil, we need to make sure that the baby isn't thrown out with the bathwater.

With regard to vaccines, many have legitimate concerns about mRNA vaccines and about the number of vaccines given to babies. These issues need to be addressed. However, we need to be aware that the headlines and discussions are sometimes utilized by those who are simply anti-vaccine to advance their cause. If you have a chance to look back over your family history, you might be surprised to find out how many in earlier generations did not reach adulthood due to diseases such as typhoid fever, measles, polio, smallpox, influenza, or other diseases. Some of these have been nearly eliminated due to the use of vaccines. Still those who are anti-vaccine will use our current discussions to argue against all vaccines. Do not let them sway the outcome of the debate by their misleading rhetoric. Lives depend upon it.

With regard to the CDC, there are arguments that can be made against it and many other government alphabet organizations. However, assuming that the CDC plays no role in the control of diseases is unfounded. To give one example, the EIS (Epidemic Intelligence Service) does remarkable and incredibly important work. When outbreaks of deadly and infectious diseases (such as Ebola, cholera, and many others) occur in the world, the EIS will make efforts to control the deadly outbreak before it becomes more widespread, and before it reaches our shores. EIS employees will go, not only into the worst of the worst nations, but into the worst places in the worst nations, at great risk to themselves. How many of us have jobs in which our day starts by being in a place so dangerous that, when we arrive, we are handed a box with a button inside it; and we are told that, if we are in danger, open the box, press the button, and a platoon of Marines will show up? This has been the thankless life of some EIS employees (who are public servants in the truest sense of the word).

So, let us address and attack the legitimate issues with CDC and vaccines. But let us not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Let's not cut off our nose to spite our face.