NIH's Bhattacharya will also run the CDC while Trump administration
looks for a permanent director
[February 19, 2026]
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
WASHINGTON (AP) — National Institutes of Health Director Jay
Bhattacharya will also temporarily become acting director of the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, an administration official said
Wednesday.
The change was first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by the
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the appointment
hadn’t been made public.
Bhattacharya will be the third leader of the embattled CDC, the nation's
top public health agency, during President Donald Trump’s second term.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abruptly fired then-CDC Director
Susan Monarez last summer, less than a month after the Senate confirmed
her for the job.
Monarez, a longtime government scientist, later testified before a
Senate committee that her dismissal came after she refused to sign off
on Kennedy's requested changes to the childhood vaccination schedule
without data to back them up.
Deputy Health Secretary Jim O’Neill, a former investor, had been serving
as the acting CDC director and overseeing those vaccine changes before
his reported departure last week.
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National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya attends
an event with first lady Melania Trump at The Children's Inn in
Bethesda, Md., Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
 Bhattacharya is a health economist
who, as a Stanford University professor, was an outspoken critic of
the government’s COVID-19 shutdowns and vaccine policies. At the NIH,
he oversees the largest public funder of biomedical research.
At a recent Senate hearing, Bhattacharya said childhood measles
vaccination was “the best way to address the measles epidemic in
this country,” and testified that he'd seen no evidence linking any
single vaccine to autism.
Trump administration officials have said they planned to find a
permanent CDC director, a job that requires confirmation by the
Senate.
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