The new CDC chief has no medical training and once helped Peter Thiel to develop artificial islands floating in front of us

O’Neill, the deputy of Kennedy at the Ministry of Health and Social Services, will supplant Susan Monarez, a long -standing government scientist who had been director of the CDC for less than a month.

Monarerez lawyers said it refused to “stadium non -scientific rubber, reckless guidelines and health experts dedicated to fire”.

O’Neill takes over as an acting director of an agency that was shaken by Kennedy’s layoffs, resignations and efforts to reshape the country’s vaccination policies to equal its long -standing suspicions on the safety and efficiency of long -standing shots.

An HHS spokesman said on Friday that O’Neill would continue to serve as a deputy for the department but had not provided details on his new role.

A former partner of the billionaire technology entrepreneur Peter Thiel, O’Neill previously helped manage one of Thiel’s investment funds and then managed several of his other projects. These included a non-profit organization working to develop artificial islands that would float outside the American territory, allowing them to experiment with new forms of government.

He has no training in medicine or health care and holds a baccalaureate and a master’s degree in the humanities.

An initiate of Washington in a team of foreigners

O’Neill has kept a profile significantly lower than the other senior health officials of Trump, who all joined the administration as Washington Outsiders. He is also the only one to have work experience at HHS, where he served for six years under President George W. Bush.

Those who know him say he will probably be responsible for trying to calm the situation at the CDC – although it is not clear what, if necessary, that he will have Kennedy.

“Jim O’Neill is a health policy professional and I don’t think anyone can accuse him of being a RFK Jr. Sock puppet,” said Peter Pitts, former FDA official under Bush. “The question becomes whether the role of the CDC director becomes a strictly paper tiger position, where the person only does what they were told by the secretary.”

O’Neill is not closely associated with the “Make America Healthy Again” movement from Kennedy and his efforts against food dyes, fluoride and ultra -planned foods.

Nor was he a major criticism of public health measures during the pandemic, unlike the head of the Food and Drug Administration Marty Makary and other officials of Trump. Although O’Neill used social media to criticize FDA’s efforts to stop the prescription of unproven treatments for COVID-19, including the anti-parasite ivermectin.

O’Neill pushed less regulation

O’Neill has long -standing ties with the libertarian wing of the Republican Party, notably Thiel, one of the main supporters of Trump of Silicon Valley. Like Thiel, O’Neill has expressed his disdain for many parts of the federal bureaucracy, saying that it hinders the progress of medicine, technology and other areas.

During Trump’s first term, O’Neill was verified as a possible choice to direct the FDA, although its declarations made on the agency made alarms among the leaders of pharmaceutical and medical technology.

In particular, O’Neill has proposed to remove the Mandate of the FDA 60 years to ensure that new drugs are both safe and effective in the treatment of diseases. In a 2014 speech, O’Neill suggested that the effectiveness of the drug could be established after hitting the market.

Trump finally appointed Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former FDA official and supporter of the agency’s regulatory approach, as a commissioner.

Refusal to break with Kennedy on vaccines

After being nominated at the HHS Post, O’Neill expressed his support for the traditional federal government system to supervise vaccines – including the role of the CDC – while refusing to criticize Kennedy’s opinions on the subject.

“I support CDC recommendations for vaccines,” O’Neill told the Louisiana republican, Bill Cassidy, during a confirmation audience in June. “I think it is a central role that CDC A. It is mandated in law.”

In follow -up issues, the Democrat’s ranking Ron Wyden pressed O’Neill on Kennedy’s declarations minimizing the safety and efficiency of vaccines to prevent measles and other diseases.

“Secretary Kennedy did not make people difficult or discouraged to take vaccines,” replied O’Neill.

Decisions of upcoming high stakes vaccines

In a few weeks, O’Neill could be invited to sign new recommendations from a CDC panel that Kennedy has reshaped with vaccine skeptics. The group is expected to meet next month to examine vaccinations for measles, hepatitis and other conditions that have long been established on the government’s calendar for children.

Traditionally, the CDC director signs recommendations for the panel. But Monarez was ousted after, among others, she refused to automatically sign the committee’s recommendations, according to Dr. Richard Beser, a former acting director of the CDC who spoke to her.

As acting manager, the Federal O’Neill Limit law has no more than 210 days at the head of the agency before having to withdraw or be officially nominated for the post.

The Dr. Anne Schuhat, who served twice as an acting director of the CDC, says that there is essentially no limit to the powers of the heads of the acting agency, beyond time constraints.

“I was told,” You are the director. Do what you need to do, ”said Schuchat.

DUELING Santé Roles

The two roles of O’Neill in HHS and CDC are full -time and full -time jobs that would be extremely difficult for a person to be done simultaneously, said Schuchat.

“But if the objective is to ensure that an acting director of the CDC is made a predetermined decision concerning vaccines, this is another story,” said Schuchat.

This will not help where there was an exodus this week of four CDC Center directors, leaving the agency with few leaders who have training in medicine, science or management of the public health crisis, she added.

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The medical writer AP Mike Stobbe contributed to this New York story

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The Department of Health and Sciences of the Associated Press receives the support of the Department of Science Education from Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.