Trump picks qualified, normal health leader to head CDC; experts still cautious
She's well qualified but will need to navigate RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine agenda.
President Trump on Thursday announced his third nominee for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Dr. Erica Schwartz, a well-qualified former public health official and board-certified physician in preventive medicine, who has publicly supported vaccination and followed evidence-based medicine.
The uncontroversial pick comes amid concern within the administration that the aggressive anti-vaccine agenda from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—who has no medical, science, or public health background—has become a liability for the party in the lead up to the midterms.
Schwartz was deputy surgeon general in Trump's first administration. She spent much of her career as a Navy officer, held the role of Chief Medical Officer with the US Coast Guard, and is a retired rear-admiral of the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. She has medical degree from Brown University, a master's degree in public health, and a law degree from the University of Maryland. During the pandemic, she was involved in the federal rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.