The Senate voted along party lines Wednesday to confirm Dr. Erica Schwartz as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The upper chamber voted 51 to 44 to confirm her as head of the nation’s public health agency. Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine was the lone Democrat to vote with Republicans for her confirmation.
As President Trump’s third nomination to lead the CDC during his second term, she will replace acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya.
Dr. Schwartz, a deputy surgeon general in the first Trump administration and the beginning of the Biden administration, was nominated by Mr. Trump in April.
The CDC has lacked a permanent director for all but a month since Mr. Trump’s return to the White House.
In March of last year, Mr. Trump withdrew the nomination of Dr. Dave Weldon hours before a scheduled confirmation hearing for the former congressman and vaccine critic.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ousted Senate-confirmed Susan Monarez after a few weeks on the job due to her resistance to pressure to rescind certain COVID-19 vaccine approvals.
Former Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill left his post as acting CDC director this past February as part of a wider administrative reorganization.
Dr. Schwartz’s confirmation hearing exposed vaccine tensions and concerns about the independent agency.
Ultimately, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted 13-10 to advance her nomination after Chair Bill Cassidy, Louisiana Republican, set aside his qualms over whether or not she would stand up to Mr. Kennedy if necessary. Mr. Kaine also voted for her in committee.
Ms. Schwartz inherits an agency in crisis. The CDC has lost roughly a quarter of its workforce to layoffs and departures, is still recovering from a shooting at its Atlanta headquarters, and is managing the worst U.S. measles outbreak since 1991, alongside a major Ebola outbreak in the Congo.
Contact the author
Please read our comment policy before commenting.