Senate confirms Erica Schwartz as CDC director, ending year-long vacancy

The Senate voted 51-44 to confirm Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, filling a nearly year-long vacancy created after health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the previous director. Schwartz, a retired rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and former deputy surgeon general during the first Trump administration, previously managed COVID-19 testing sites.

She assumes leadership while the agency confronts measles cases, a domestic food-borne parasite, and Ebola activity in Africa, and must navigate the health secretary's push to modify vaccine recommendations. Her predecessor, Susan Monarez, was removed after claiming pressure to pre-sign vaccine policy changes. Senate health committee chair Bill Cassidy pressed Schwartz on resisting political pressure, later expressing confidence in her competence but warning that further reversals of vaccine-policy agreements could hinder future health nominations.