Yesterday 08:47 PM
(This post was last modified: Yesterday 08:50 PM by C C.)
https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/04/t...-cautious/
INTRO: 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 a 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.
[...] There’s an obvious reason for such caution. Trump’s second pick for CDC director, Susan Monarez, was a similarly highly respected, evidence-based health official. But after being confirmed by the Senate, she only lasted 29 days in the job before Kennedy ousted her for refusing to rubber-stamp vaccine policy crafted by his hand-selected panel of vaccine-skeptical advisors.
Trump’s first nominee, Dave Weldon, a former congressman from Florida, didn’t even make it that far. His anti-vaccine views made him a nonstarter in the Senate, and his nomination was dropped.
With Schwartz’s credentials, she will likely not have such problems getting Senate approval. But her ability to avoid Monarez’s fate while staying true to evidence-based public health policy is in doubt... (MORE - details)
INTRO: 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 a 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.
[...] There’s an obvious reason for such caution. Trump’s second pick for CDC director, Susan Monarez, was a similarly highly respected, evidence-based health official. But after being confirmed by the Senate, she only lasted 29 days in the job before Kennedy ousted her for refusing to rubber-stamp vaccine policy crafted by his hand-selected panel of vaccine-skeptical advisors.
Trump’s first nominee, Dave Weldon, a former congressman from Florida, didn’t even make it that far. His anti-vaccine views made him a nonstarter in the Senate, and his nomination was dropped.
With Schwartz’s credentials, she will likely not have such problems getting Senate approval. But her ability to avoid Monarez’s fate while staying true to evidence-based public health policy is in doubt... (MORE - details)