The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasn't had a director since August, and now it's without even a temporary one after the Trump administration blew through a federal deadline on Wednesday to nominate someone for the permanent role.

According to federal law, there's a 210-day limit on a Senate-confirmed position being filled by someone in an acting capacity. The clock started when anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired Susan Monarez from her Senate-confirmed role as CDC director in late August—allegedly after she refused to rubber-stamp changes to CDC vaccine recommendations. Until yesterday, Jay Bhattacharya, who heads the National Institutes of Health, had stepped in to also be the acting director of the CDC.…