The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, giving the agency a permanent director after roughly a year without one. Schwartz now takes over an agency that has been led by acting directors since August 2025.
Schwartz will oversee the country’s public health response and approve vaccine recommendations, while also helping contain disease outbreaks. She inherits a measles crisis in which the U.S. has recorded its highest number of cases in 35 years, along with a growing cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to shredded iceberg lettuce.
Schwartz and the CDC vacancy
Before this vote, Jay Bhattacharya had led the CDC since February while also directing the National Institutes of Health. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired Susan Monarez after 29 days in the role in August 2025, and a series of acting directors followed.
Federal law required the Trump administration to nominate a permanent director in March, but Schwartz’s nomination came a month after that deadline. Schwartz previously served as deputy surgeon general during President Donald Trump’s first term, and before that she was a Navy physician and chief medical officer in the Coast Guard.
Vaccine policy pressure
At a Senate hearing last month, Schwartz said vaccines are safe and effective. She also said she was unaware of some of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine policy changes and dodged questions about whether she supported them.
Bill Cassidy, who chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, accused Schwartz of evading answers about whether she would challenge Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if he tried to undermine science. Cassidy said, “We need a CDC director that will actually stand up to crazy, stupid things being said that undermine faith in immunization,” and later said, “I am confident that she knows what she is doing and will stand against those who do not,” at a committee meeting on July 23.
Last month, the National Public Health Coalition said it would not support Schwartz’s nomination based on her hearing performance. On the same issue, Emily Hilliard told News that Schwartz’s statement was incomplete. The CDC now has a permanent director again, but Schwartz’s first decisions will come under immediate pressure from vaccine policy disputes and the outbreaks already on her desk.
