Senate confirms new CDC director amid parasite outbreak

The Senate confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz on Wednesday as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a party-line vote. Her confirmation comes as a Cyclospora outbreak, a diarrhea-causing parasite linked to contaminated lettuce, spreads across the country.

Schwartz, who served as deputy surgeon general during President Donald Trump's first term, is the latest official to lead the CDC during his second term, a position that has cycled through nearly a half dozen different leaders. During her Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, lawmakers including Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., pressed her on whether she would stand up to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s positions on vaccines rather than simply follow orders.

Cassidy said he wanted a CDC director who would reassure the public that vaccines are safe and effective rather than one who would just take orders, and said he was confident Schwartz would stand against those who undermine faith in immunization. Schwartz is not the first CDC director confirmed during this Congress; Susan Monarez was confirmed earlier but lasted only a month before being removed amid a reported disagreement with Kennedy over vaccines.

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