Quotes
I was looking forward to the hearing,
Cassidy said in a statement
Clearly, big Pharma didn’t want me in the CDC investigating any of this,
Weldon said
For some reason the Collins staff suddenly couldn’t get over that no matter what I said back,
Weldon saidMany people feel big Pharma actually feared me more than they feared [Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] because of my credibility and my knowledge of science and medicine,
Weldon said in a four-page letter provided to The IndependentSo, if they had to live with Bobby for four years, they were definitely not going to have both him and me and presumably put serious pressure on Collins and Cassidy,
he addedWhile the COVID-19 pandemic has ended, the loss of trust in public health and science agencies remains. This comes as the nation faces serious health threats like a measles outbreak, which has already claimed at least one life and hospitalized many more,
Cassidy said
The health appointments by the Trump administration have been uniformly unqualified and destructive. Weldon was among the worst,
said Gregg Gonsalves, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public HealthHe was told the same thing and that he had been looking forward to working with me at CDC. He said I was the perfect person for the job,
Weldon wrote
He was a critical part of the team,
she said of WeldonI thought what Congressman Weldon brought to the table was what you actually want in science, which is skepticism,
he told POLITICOApparently he was saying things that the White House didn’t like, and that’s my understanding for why that got pulled back,
he said of Weldon’s nomination_(cropped).jpg)
We maintain that the manner in which we were terminated did not follow due process requirements and should be found as not lawful,
fired employees wrote in a letter addressed to Kennedy on WednesdayWeldon wasn’t ready, per one of the sources,
The new US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr – himself an anti-vaccine campaigner and a hugely controversial pick – said ... according to Axios
He is one of us!! Since before our movement had momentum. Dream Come True.”
When his nomination was announced, one prominent anti-vaccine activist wrote on FacebookI was deeply disturbed to hear Dr. Weldon repeat debunked claims about vaccines,
the Washington Democrat said in a statement
It became clear that the votes weren't there in the Senate for him to get confirmed. This would have been a futile effort,
a source familiar with the nomination told Fox News Digital
He had the votes to get out of committee, [but] he didn’t have the votes to get out of the full Senate,
the person said, calling it a “dead man walking situation.”I’ve been described as anti-vaccine, ... I give shots. I believe in vaccination.”
Dr. Weldon said, but added
I was looking forward to the hearing. I was surprised when Dr. Weldon's nomination was withdrawn. His poor response to this situation shows that the pressures of being CDC director would have been too much."
Cassidy commented on the Weldon nomination being pulled in a statement issued through staff to Newsmax
I had a very pleasant meeting with her 2 weeks prior where she expressed no reservation, but at my meeting with her staff on March 11 they were suddenly very hostile-a bad sign."
Regarding Collins, Weldon wrote