Former Florida congressman Dave Weldon picked as CDC director

President-elect Donald Trump said Friday that he had picked former Florida Republican Congressman Dr. Dave Weldon to serve as the director for the Centers for Disease Control.

“I am thrilled to announce that former Congressman, Dr. Dave Weldon, is nominated to serve as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),” Trump said in a statement, which he posted on Truth Social on Friday evening.

While in Congress, Weldon introduced a bill that would give responsibility for the nation's vaccine safety to an independent agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, removing most vaccine safety research from the Centers for Disease Control.

The CDC is the federal public health agency under the Department of Health and Human Services and charged with providing leadership, information and scientific expertise in preventing and controlling diseases.

"There's an enormous inherent conflict of interest within the CDC, and if we fail to move vaccine safety to a separate independent office, safety issues will remain a low priority and public confidence in vaccines will continue to erode," said Weldon in April 2007 when he introduced the bill.

After serving seven terms in Congress, Weldon, a medical doctor and Army veteran, went back to private practice.

He graduated from Stony Brook University in 1978, he earned his M.D. degree at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine in 1981.

“Dave has successfully worked with the CDC to enact a ban on patents for human embryos,” Trump said in the statement. “The current Health of America is critical, and CDC will play a big role in helping to ensure Americans have the tools and resources they need to understand the underlying causes of disease, and the solutions to cure these diseases.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump picks Dr. Dave Weldon as CDC director