Trump Delays Naming New CDC Head, Leaving Agency Without Director

The health secretary and other officials are still evaluating candidates to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Zachary Stieber

Published: 3/26/2026, 4:08:32 PM EDT

Trump Delays Naming New CDC Head, Leaving Agency Without Director — A sign at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 25, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

The Trump administration has missed a deadline to appoint a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leader, leaving the agency without a director.

Officials confirmed on March 26 that the appointment of a new CDC director was delayed past the Wednesday deadline.

Wednesday was 210 days since the agency had a permanent director. Under federal law, temporary appointments for positions requiring Senate confirmation can only last for 210 days.

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, named the CDC's acting director in February, "will continue to oversee the CDC by performing the delegable duties of the CDC director," a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) told The Epoch Times via email.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and an adviser, Chris Klomp, are working with the White House on the search for the next CDC director, the spokesperson added, by evaluating candidates "that can further the Trump administration’s objective of restoring the CDC to its original mission of fighting infectious disease."

Klomp said at a conference earlier in March that it was possible no one would be nominated to be the next CDC director by the deadline, and if that happened, Bhattacharya would continue overseeing the agency without the acting director title.

Klomp said that officials were scouring the country for qualified candidates to find "an exceptional leader that would drive trust for this organization and be able to reform and drive the president's agenda for the CDC." He said Kennedy would ultimately decide which candidate to promote to President Donald Trump, who would determine whether he would nominate the candidate.

CDC directors for decades did not require Senate confirmation. Congress added the requirement in a law that took effect in 2025.

Trump's first nominee to head the CDC during his second term was withdrawn after opposition from some senators on the Senate Health Committee, which must approve health officials, over his views on vaccines. Senators over the summer of 2025 confirmed Susan Monarez, the second nominee, but she was fired on Aug. 27, about four weeks after her confirmation.

Monarez and Kennedy clashed over how to handle possible changes to the CDC's vaccine recommendations, with Monarez favoring keeping them the same and Kennedy desiring to change them.

Officials later approved a number of alterations to the recommendations, including the scaling back of COVID-19 vaccine guidance, but a federal judge recently stayed all of those updates, ruling that officials did not follow proper procedure when making the changes. The government has not yet appealed the ruling. An organization Kennedy founded and chaired prior to his being part of the government lodged an appeal on Wednesday, asserting that the judge improperly blocked the updates.

Bhattacharya, since becoming the CDC's top official—in addition to his duties as head of the National Institutes of Health—has promoted measles vaccination and said the CDC is working with states on responding to measles outbreaks.

He confirmed on X this week that he told CDC employees he has had scientific disagreements with Kennedy.

"I differ on scientific matters with nearly everyone about some things," he wrote. "I learn much from respectful conversations about those disagreements, including especially with Sec. Kennedy."

From The Epoch Times