Dr. Erica Schwartz Testifies at Senate Hearing on CDC Director Nomination

Dr. Erica Schwartz appeared Wednesday before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions for her confirmation hearing as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. President Trump nominated her in April.

If confirmed, she would replace acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya. Chairman Bill Cassidy told Dr. Schwartz that any equivocation on the efficacy of immunization would block his support for her nomination.

He said trust destroyed by such equivocation makes effectiveness difficult. He asked whether she would stand up to statements that undermine faith in immunization or simply take orders. Dr. Schwartz said she would never betray the science.

She said she accepts much evidence that vaccines do not cause autism. Dr. Schwartz said one in 33 children have a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and the public deserves an explanation for the rate.

The hearing addressed prior leadership turnover at the agency. President Trump withdrew the nomination of Dr. Dave Weldon hours before his scheduled hearing in March of last year. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ousted Senate-confirmed Susan Monarez after a few weeks when she resisted pressure to rescind certain COVID-19 vaccine approvals.

National Institutes of Health Director Jim O’Neill was removed as acting CDC director in February.

Cassidy said Monarez was removed because she would not make decisions she believed were bad for public health. Dr. Schwartz served as deputy surgeon general in the first Trump administration and at the start of the Biden administration.