Senate Confirmation Hearing Scheduled for Trump Nominee for CDC Director

Dr. Erica Schwartz was selected in April.

Dr. Erica Schwartz. Department of Health and Human Services via The Epoch Times

A Senate committee has scheduled a hearing for President Donald Trump’s latest nominee to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Erica Schwartz, the nominee, will appear before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, the panel said on July 8.

The CDC is a public health agency that works to detect and prevent infectious diseases and other issues.

Sean Kaufman, who has been selected to be the next assistant health secretary for preparedness and response, is also due to take part in the confirmation hearing in Washington.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) chairs the committee.

“Thank you President Trump for nominating a permanent leader for the CDC,” Cassidy wrote on X after Trump nominated Schwartz to lead the CDC. “I look forward to learning more about Dr. Schwartz and speaking to her about her vision for improving the agency.”

The CDC during Trump’s second term has primarily been without a Senate-confirmed director.

Trump withdrew his first nominee, Dr. Dave Weldon, after Democrats and several Republicans on the Senate health committee opposed him. Trump’s second nominee, longtime government official Susan Monarez, secured Senate confirmation but was fired after four weeks in office after she clashed with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccines. Kennedy’s agency oversees the CDC.

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the Senate-confirmed head of the National Institutes of Health, has been serving as the acting head of the CDC as senators consider whether to support Schwartz.

The former chief medical officer of the Coast Guard, Schwartz has signed orders implementing vaccine mandates.

“When I was a military physician, my job was all about readiness,” Schwartz said in a video she has since taken down. “It was all about public health: prevention, vaccines, early detection. If we get that right, we change lives before illness ever begins.”

Kennedy told lawmakers after Schwartz was nominated that he approved of her nomination and that he vetted her position on vaccines. He also said that the next CDC director has the power to make decisions independent of political appointees.

Schwartz has not issued public comments about how she would lead the CDC. She said in a financial disclosure filing in June that she would resign from her job with UnitedHealth Group if she is confirmed, and that she would sell stock she has in health companies.