New CDC pick may face “threat to follow ideology over evidence,” ex-official says

Dr. Erica Schwartz, President Trump’s new nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a “home run pick” but may face pressure from the “vaccine-skeptical” Robert F. Kennedy’s Health and Human Services Department if confirmed to the role, former Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Sunday.

Adams was Mr. Trump’s Surgeon General during his first term in office. During that time, Schwartz was Adams’ deputy Surgeon General. 

Polls suggested “that Republicans were going to pay in the midterm election if they continued on an anti-vaccine push,” Adams said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” but Schwartz is “objectively the most qualified health nominee we’ve seen from this administration so far.” 

Schwartz is a graduate of Brown University’s medical school and holds a law degree from the University of Maryland. She also spent 24 years in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Currently, Schwartz oversees dozens of Coast Guard facilities as the agency’s director of health, safety and work-life. 

Adams said his optimism about Schwartz’s qualifications came “with a health dose of caution about the environment” at the CDC and HHS. The previous CDC director, Susan Monarez, was ousted from the role just weeks after her confirmation following clashes with Kennedy. Several other top CDC officials have also resigned, citing disagreements with the Trump administration over its vaccine policy and “the weaponization of public health” at the agency. 

“Recent history tells us if she’s confirmed, she will be under real threat to follow ideology over evidence in what is a vaccine-skeptical HHS,” Adams said. 

Adams highlighted Monarez’s departure and acting CDC director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya’s recent decision to hold back a weekly morbidity and mortality report that Adams described as showing COVID-19 vaccines reduced emergency room visits in health adults this winter. Adams said that Schwartz will also “clearly be pitted against RFK on vaccines” during the Senate confirmation process. 

Adams said that the choice to nominate Schwartz comes amid reports that the White House has asked Kennedy to “stop talking negatively about vaccines” ahead of the midterm elections. Adams pointed to recent House testimony where Kennedy acknowledged, under oath, that vaccination could have saved the life of a child who died of measles in Texas last year. 

“These statements represent his strongest possible endorsement of the measles vaccine to date,” Adams said. While the answer was “qualified and tempered,” Adams warned it still risked “sending mixed messages” amid rising measles cases, falling vaccination rates, preventable outbreaks and other public health concerns.