Senate committee advances nomination of Dr. Erica Schwartz to be Trump's
CDC director
[July 31, 2026]
By MIKE STOBBE
NEW YORK (AP) — A Senate committee on Thursday advanced Dr. Erica
Schwartz’s nomination to be director of the nation’s top public health
agency, setting aside concerns that she will not stand up to political
meddling.
If confirmed by the full Senate, the 54-year-old would become the 22nd
director of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, which is charged with protecting Americans from preventable
health threats. Her resume includes medical and law degrees, a stint as
deputy surgeon general, and a leadership position at the U.S. Coast
Guard.
Schwartz appeared to be on shaky ground after a hearing before the
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee this month. The
chairman, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and others questioned whether she
would be willing to stand up to Republican President Donald Trump's
health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., if he ordered CDC to do
something that was unsupported by science and good public health
practice.
But when the committee met last week, Cassidy said he had spoken with
Schwartz after that hearing and to others who knew her.
“I’m confident that she knows what she is doing and will stand against
those who do not,” said Cassidy, whose support was necessary for the
nomination to go forward.
The committee's near party-line vote Thursday moved Schwartz’s
nomination ahead.
Among those who opposed her was Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont
independent.
“The issue at hand is not complicated," Sanders said last week. "Will we
have people in the Trump administration who have the guts to stand up to
people who are anti-science and into conspiracy theories?”
The CDC has faced more than a year of unrest
The CDC has been in turmoil since Trump returned to office last year.
Largely due to layoffs and resignations, the agency has lost 3,000-plus
employees, more than one-quarter of its workforce. Morale has plummeted
as a succession of mostly temporary leaders have come and gone. The
front office has been staffed by political appointees with little or no
training in medicine or public health.
When Schwartz was nominated in April, public health experts were
cautiously optimistic, citing her background. They also noted she was
the choice of Trump and not Kennedy, a leading voice in the anti-vaccine
movement before he was tapped to oversee the CDC and other federal
health agencies.
Kennedy had promised not to change the nation’s vaccination schedule but
later attempted a substantial rewrite of vaccine recommendations for
kids. Some of those efforts were put on hold this year by a federal
judge.
Kennedy’s actions have rankled Cassidy, a physician who initially
expressed doubts about Kennedy as Trump's pick to be health secretary.
Cassidy ultimately signed off on Kennedy after the nominee promised not
to change the nation’s childhood vaccine recommendations.
Public health groups seek reassurance
At Schwartz’s hearing, Cassidy and some other senators asked her what
she would do if Kennedy or other political appointees instructed the CDC
to make changes that were not supported by science. Schwartz pledged to
“never betray the science,” but she repeatedly declined to dissent from
some of the actions Kennedy has taken.
The National Public Health Coalition, an organization of former and
current CDC workers, was not reassured by her responses and said
senators should require specific written commitments from Schwartz on
scientific independence, evidence-based vaccine policy, conflicts of
interest and other issues.
“The public needed to hear clear commitments about how she would protect
CDC guidance from political pressure," the group said in a statement.
“Too often, her stated commitments were incomplete, vague, or missing.”
At the hearing, Schwartz said she was unaware that CDC programs that
worked to prevent smoking and promote vaccinations had been curtailed.
She declined to commit to taking down a CDC website that suggests a link
between childhood vaccines and autism. She said she had not seen it,
though she agreed existing medical evidence has not found a link.
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 Last week, Cassidy said that “as a
sign of good faith” officials at the Department of Health and Human
Services had modified the page. But this week, it continued to argue
that “vaccines do not cause autism” is not an evidence-based claim,
despite numerous studies that have found no such link.
Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public
Health Association, interpreted Schwartz's performance as someone
trying to please different factions. He disagreed with how she
answered several questions, but continued to support her nomination.
Schwartz is qualified, might be able to rebuild the CDC’s depleted
command structure and could start to rebuild public trust in the
agency by focusing on bipartisan concerns such as foodborne disease
outbreaks, he said in a recent interview.
Dr. Daniel Jernigan, a former top CDC official who resigned in
August, echoed that.
If Schwartz is not confirmed, “it will mean a continued rudderless
journey for CDC," he said.
For Kennedy, "having to start over is probably what he wants — many
more months with no one stopping him from pursuing the same
anti-science and anti-vaccine efforts he has been pursuing,”
Jernigan said.
The CDC has had several leaders under Trump
Schwartz was the third Trump nominee for the office in the past 18
months.
The first was a former Florida congressman, Dr. David Weldon. His
Senate hearing in March 2025 was canceled an hour before it was to
begin. Weldon said at the time that he had been told not enough
senators were willing to vote for him.
The White House then moved on to Susan Monarez, who had been serving
as the CDC’s acting director. Monarez was confirmed by the Senate,
but she was ousted in less than a month. Trump administration
officials said she was not aligned with the president's agenda so
they terminated her.
Since then there have been a series of HHS officials as acting CDC
director.
The committee also advanced a controversial health nominee
The CDC position is one of a number of leadership vacancies among
federal health agencies, including surgeon general and commissioner
of the Food and Drug Administration.
Also unfilled is the job of assistant health secretary for
preparedness and response. That official oversees preparations and
response to public health emergencies and disasters and is involved
in decisions about funding next-generation vaccines against pandemic
flu or other infectious disease threats.
Trump wants Sean Kaufman in that post, and the Senate committee on
Thursday approved the nomination by a party-line vote.
In LinkedIn postings, Kaufman has made comments cheered by vaccine
skeptics, arguing against hepatitis B vaccinations for newborns and
saying he served as an expert witness to advocate for people who
refused the COVID-19 vaccine. He also supported a Trump
administration decision last year to cancel projects to develop
vaccines using mRNA technology.
“Mr. Kaufman has said some pretty stupid things and irresponsible
things regarding immunization,” Cassidy said.
But Cassidy said he spoke to HHS officials and was assured that
personnel changes are being made at the department to provide
“better oversight to ensure that science, not ideology, is driving
decision-making.”
Cassidy also said he has been assured that if Kaufman is confirmed,
"he will not be involved in vaccine policy and nor will he be the
ultimate decision-maker on certain issues.”
Sanders, who voted against Kaufman, said: “I think the American
people are owed better than what President Trump has nominated.”
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