Senate confirms Trump pick Erica Schwartz as new CDC director

Dr Erica Schwartz was confirmed by the US Senate as director ‌of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a rare win for the Trump administration after a string of failed attempts to fill senior health posts.

Schwartz was confirmed by a ⁠51-44 vote that broke largely along party lines, with Tim Kaine of Virginia the sole Democrat to support her nomination.

Donald Trump’s third pick to run ​the CDC, Schwartz is set to take the reins of the agency after a tumultuous period of leadership turnover, and amid public concern over an outbreak of cyclosporiasis and Robert F Kennedy Jr’s hesitancy towards vaccines.

At her confirmation hearing last month, senators pressed Schwartz on whether she would stand firm against any attempts by the health secretary to erode the scientific consensus around vaccines. She replied that she “will never betray the science” but generally deflected questions about how she would manage the relationship with Kennedy.

“We need a CDC director that will ⁠actually stand up to crazy, stupid things being said that undermine faith in immunization,” said Bill Cassidy, the committee’s Republican chair and a physician.

Schwartz replied that Kennedy “will absolutely allow me to be CDC director”, and Cassidy later announced his support for her nomination.

“There are challenges facing Americans’ health today. I will work with her to face those challenges and regain trust in the CDC,” Cassidy said after the Senate confirmed her.

A navy veteran, Schwartz served as deputy surgeon general during Trump’s first term, after positions in the United States Public Health Service where she was detailed to the Coast Guard, eventually becoming the force’s chief medical officer.

Trump’s first nominee to lead the CDC, David Weldon, a former Florida congressman, was withdrawn by the White House in March 2025 just before his confirmation hearing.

Schwartz will be the first permanent CDC ​director since Susan Monarez, Trump’s second pick, who was fired by Kennedy last year after less than a month over a clash on vaccine policy.