Dive Brief:
- The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Erica Schwartz, an experienced public health official and supporter of vaccines, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention almost a year after the controversial firing of the last permanent director.
- Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ousted the previous CDC head, Susan Monarez, just weeks after her confirmation in 2025. She later said that Kennedy fired her because she refused to rubber-stamp the recommendations of an advisory panel he filled with multiple people who had expressed vaccine-hesitant views.
- Before confirming Schwartz, senators of both parties pressed her on whether she would be able to squash ill-advised policies and hold her own if faced with political interference. In the end, she won confirmation on a 51-44 vote that fell mostly along party lines, with Virginia Senator Tim Kaine casting the only “yea” vote among Democrats.
Dive Insight:
Schwartz will be stepping into an agency that has been battered by growing distrust, layoffs and the ever-looming presence of Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic.
“Erica Schwartz has a tough road ahead,” the American Public Health Association said. “With all the turmoil of the past two years, the CDC desperately needs stability, experienced leadership and a steadfast commitment to science.”
After taking over HHS, Kennedy moved quickly to overhaul vaccine policies. He announced the CDC would no longer recommend COVID-19 shots for healthy children and pregnant women, then he fired all the members of a crucial vaccine advisory panel and oversaw recommendations to slim down the childhood immunization schedule.
His efforts have been partially stymied by court battles and White House officials who fear that publicly repudiating immunizations is a losing issue in electoral politics. Still, Kennedy has continued his work, reportedly pushing health agencies behind the scenes to study whether vaccines cause chronic disease and occasionally taking to the airwaves to spread misinformation. Meanwhile, President Trump continues to be fixated on a debunked narrative linking inoculations to autism.
The American Public Health Association and others say Schwartz has the background to serve as an effective CDC chief. She received undergraduate and medical degrees from Brown University, before getting a master’s degree in public health from the Uniformed Services University and a law degree from the University of Maryland. She then served as a U.S. Public Health Service officer and deputy surgeon general during the first Trump administration.
During her confirmation hearing, Schwartz promised that she would “never betray the science” as head of the CDC. “My sacred responsibility is to provide the American people with public health guidance that is clear, honest and evidence-based,” she said in her opening statement.
But those who opposed her nomination said they couldn’t be sure she could fulfill that pledge. “Secretary Kennedy’s reckless and sustained attack on the CDC puts Americans’ health at risk,” Senator Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, said in a statement. “Against this disturbing backdrop . . . I lacked sufficient confidence in her independence.”
Still, Ossoff said he was ready to work with Schwartz and support the “vital mission” of the Atlanta-based agency.
