BATON ROUGE — Louisiana's surgeon general, who last winter halted his agency's mass-vaccination events, has been tapped as the second-ranking official at the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a number of published reports.

The New York Times and Washington Post, among others, reported Tuesday that Dr. Ralph Abraham is now listed as the CDC's principal deputy director. No announcement was made, and the Times reported that many CDC employees were not aware of the appointment. The newspapers' reports followed a Substack post on "Inside Medicine."

The Louisiana Department of Health did not immediately confirm the move to WBRZ or reply to a request for comment. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to the Times, confirmed the appointment but did not comment.

Under Abraham's leadership, Louisiana health officials have stopped promoting mass vaccination events designed to suppress illness outbreaks, and he also has called COVID-19 vaccines "dangerous" despite their stemming the 2020 pandemic.

Abraham is a former congressman, a veterinarian and a medical doctor. During the pandemic, he supported the use of the malaria drug hydroxychlorquine and anti-parasitic ivermectin against the virus though studies showed they were ineffective.

Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, also a medical doctor, opposed Abraham's decision to stop vaccination events last winter.

“Removing these resources for parents is not a stand for parents’ rights,” Cassidy said then. “It prevents making health care more convenient and available for people who are very busy.” Cassidy's office also did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The Times also reported that, under Abraham, Louisiana official officials waited two months before telling residents about a whooping cough outbreak that had killed two people.