Key facts
- Erica Schwartz, nominated by President Donald Trump, is set for a confirmation hearing to lead the U.S. CDC.
- The hearing will take place before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
- The CDC has experienced multiple leadership shakeups and lacked a confirmed leader for most of Trump's second term.
- Schwartz, a preventive medicine physician, is seen as a conventional choice.
- The agency is currently dealing with a significant measles outbreak and an Ebola outbreak.
- Sean Kaufman, another Trump nominee for assistant secretary for preparedness and response, faces scrutiny over vaccine-related comments.
Erica Schwartz, nominated by President Donald Trump to lead the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is scheduled to appear before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions for a confirmation hearing. This hearing is a critical step in potentially stabilizing the agency's leadership after a period of significant turmoil and multiple shakeups.
Schwartz, who previously served as Trump's deputy surgeon general, was nominated in April. The CDC has largely operated without a confirmed leader throughout much of Trump's second term. The hearing marks the first formal step toward appointing a permanent director since Susan Monarez's brief tenure last year, which ended when she was fired after disagreements with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. regarding vaccine policy.
Prior to Schwartz, Trump's initial nominee, former Congressman Dave Weldon, had his nomination withdrawn in March 2025 due to a lack of sufficient votes. Schwartz, a board-certified preventive medicine physician, is considered a more conventional choice, with no public history of opposing vaccines.
If confirmed, Schwartz would face the daunting task of leading the CDC during a severe measles resurgence, an ongoing Ebola outbreak in Africa, and a general decline in public trust in vaccines. U.S. measles cases are on track to exceed the previous year's total, reaching levels not seen since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000, largely due to decreased childhood immunization rates.
The CDC has also responded to a major Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician who has expressed skepticism about Kennedy's vaccine initiatives, is set to lead the hearing and has described Schwartz as "very impressive."
Separately, the committee will also hold a hearing for Sean Kaufman, Trump's nominee for assistant secretary for preparedness and response. Kaufman's nomination has attracted attention due to past remarks questioning vaccines, including the hepatitis B vaccine for infants, and citing the debunked link between vaccines and autism. He also made controversial statements regarding those who label him an "antivaxxer."