President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Erica Schwartz, has been met with cautious optimism by public health leaders, who hope her track record of supporting vaccines will help settle an agency destabilized by leadership changes and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s agenda of vaccine skepticism.
Schwartz served as deputy surgeon general in Trump’s first administration and is a retired rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
She was involved in the Trump administration’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and has touted the use of vaccines in social media posts, including one this year, in which she said of her job as a military doctor, “It was all about public health: prevention, vaccines, early detection. If we get that right, we change lives before illness ever begins.”
“She follows the evidence,” David Mansdoerfer, a former top HHS official in Trump’s first term who previously worked with Schwartz, told MS NOW. “I have not seen her do anything other than follow the evidence.”
“She’s committed,” he added, praising her selection.
The optimism among health officials, including those currently working under Trump and Kennedy, appears rooted in Schwartz’s potential to resist and rectify her boss’ work when it comes to vaccines. Kennedy and Trump have slashed funding for vaccine technology, cautioned against vaccine use and installed people critical of vaccines in senior positions across HHS, while overseeing new waves of measles outbreaks nationally. Kennedy is currently testifying before a series of congressional panels over his handling of the agency.
Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who worked in the first Trump administration, has been critical of Kennedy and other top health leaders. He praised Schwartz, however, writing on X, “When I was Surgeon General, I personally selected Dr. Erica Schwartz as my Deputy. A battle-tested leader with decades of distinguished public service…she has the expertise, credibility, and integrity to lead the CDC effectively.”
Two former CDC officials, who spoke to MS NOW on condition of anonymity, said Schwartz’s support of vaccines was a good sign, but they cautioned that touting vaccines is a low bar to clear for a leader of the agency tasked with defending against infectious disease.
“She looks good on paper and should get approved by the Senate,” one former official said. “My question is, will she defend vaccines as a positive tool for public health?”
The selection of Schwartz came after a weekslong search headed by Chris Klomp, HHS’ chief counselor who was recently elevated by the White House to run HHS’ daily operations. He indicated last month to STAT News that Kennedy was also deeply involved in the search process.
Choosing Schwartz appears to reflect a distancing by the Trump administration from Kennedy’s vaccine policies, which Trump’s pollsters identified last year as unpopular with voters in key swing districts.
Recommended
“Vaccine skepticism…is rejected by the overwhelming number of voters,” the pollsters, Tony Fabrizio and Bob Ward, wrote in a December memo.
Some of Kennedy’s allies slammed the Schwartz pick and suggested Kennedy may have been boxed out of the decision by the Trump administration. Aaron Siri, a lawyer who represents people suing over vaccine injuries and a close friend of Kennedy’s, called Schwartz a “cheerleader for industry” and her nomination a likely “disaster.”
In a message to MS NOW, Siri said he believed that “left to his own devices, Secretary Kennedy would not have chosen her.”
On Thursday, Trump also announced the appointments of three people who will serve as senior aides to Schwartz if she is confirmed by the Senate: Sean Slovenski, a former Walmart executive; Jennifer Shuford, health commissioner for Texas; and Sara Brenner, principal deputy commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration.
Slovenski will serve as the CDC’s chief operating officer, replacing Lynda Chapman, a political appointee who will become a senior adviser at the Health Resources and Services Administration, according to a senior HHS official and a former CDC official, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the personnel change.
The CDC has been without a permanent director since August, when Susan Monarez was fired after just weeks on the job. Monarez told senators she was punished for refusing to preemptively accept recommendations from the agency’s independent vaccine advisory council (Kennedy disputed Monarez’s version of events).
Tensions had been rising at the CDC for months as Kennedy, a longtime critic of vaccines, fired all 17 members of the vaccine advisory council and began replacing them with handpicked choices, many of whom appeared to share his skepticism of vaccines.
In December, Kennedy ordered a change to the childhood vaccine schedule, rescinding recommendations for some of the shots. A federal judge ruled this year that Kennedy and his vaccine advisers made “arbitrary and capricious” decisions in reversing some of the recommendations.
Will McDuffie is a reporter for MS NOW.