The United States Senate confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on August 5 in a 51-44 vote, ending a yearlong vacancy atop the nation’s top public health agency.
Schwartz, 54, becomes the 22nd CDC director and the first Black woman to hold the position. She holds degrees in medicine, law, and public health, and previously served as deputy surgeon general during Trump’s first term and as a retired rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
President Trump nominated her in April 2026. The Senate health committee advanced her nomination on July 30 in a 13-10 vote, with all Republicans and Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) supporting her. The full Senate vote largely followed party lines, with Kaine again the sole Democrat backing her confirmation.
At her confirmation hearing on July 15, Schwartz affirmed her support for vaccines and pledged to follow scientific evidence. “I will never betray the science,” she told the Senate health committee, and confirmed that childhood vaccines are safe and effective, that messenger RNA vaccine technology is sound, and that vitamin K shots for newborns prevent life-threatening bleeding.
However, she avoided directly committing to defy Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if he ordered her to limit vaccine access or promotion. When asked whether she would refuse an order to stop promoting flu vaccines during a deadly flu season, she declined to answer yes or no, saying she believed the administration would never ask her to make decisions that would harm children.
The CDC director’s authority carries immediate weight in vaccine policy. The director accepts or rejects recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which determine which vaccines commercial insurance plans must cover without cost-sharing and what is available through the Vaccines for Children program. With no confirmed director in place, Kennedy had moved in January to rewrite the childhood immunization schedule toward fewer universal vaccines, though a federal judge blocked that change in March.
Schwartz takes over from Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., who has served as acting director since February while also directing the National Institutes of Health. Her predecessor as confirmed director, Susan Monarez, Ph.D., was fired after 29 days in the role last year after she refused to preemptively approve recommendations from Kennedy’s reconstituted vaccine panel.
The agency she inherits faces three major active outbreaks. As of July 30, the CDC had counted 2,371 confirmed measles cases, surpassing the 2,289 reported for all of 2025 and the highest annual total since 1991. The cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to recalled lettuce has become the largest on record in the United States, with more than 10,000 laboratory-confirmed domestically acquired cases and two deaths since May 1. The CDC has also elevated its response to an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to its highest level. The agency has shed thousands of employees since early 2025.
The National Public Health Coalition, an advocacy group of former CDC employees, opposed Schwartz’s nomination, saying her stated commitments to science were “incomplete, vague, or missing.” An HHS spokesperson dismissed the criticism, saying Schwartz declined only to speculate on decisions outside the scope of her nomination.
Sources
- Medical Economics — confirmation vote count, Schwartz’s age and credentials, her previous role as deputy surgeon general, the 51-44 vote, Tim Kaine’s support, the yearlong vacancy, measles case counts, cyclosporiasis outbreak scale, vaccine director authority over ACIP recommendations, Kennedy’s January vaccine schedule rewrite and its court blockage, Monarez’s firing and refusal to approve Kennedy’s panel, Bhattacharya’s role as acting director, and CDC workforce reductions.
- CIDRAP (University of Minnesota) — Schwartz’s July 15 confirmation hearing testimony affirming vaccine safety, mRNA technology, and vitamin K shots; her statement that she would “never betray the science”; her evasive answers on defying Kennedy’s orders; the previous director vacancy and Monarez’s firing; Senate committee members’ concerns about pressure on the CDC; measles and cyclosporiasis outbreak details; and the National Public Health Coalition’s opposition.
- Congress.gov — confirmation status and nomination details for Erica Schwartz.
