Trump’s Third Pick To Run CDC Grilled on Vaccines During Senate Confirmation Hearing

President Trump’s latest pick to become the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director promises to “never betray the science” as she navigates the nomination process.The CDC has been without a permanent leader for most of Mr. Trump second term. The president withdrew his first pick an hour before his confirmation hearing was set to start because it was believed he did not have votes to be confirmed.The acting CDC director, Susan Monarez, was later confirmed but she was ousted after just a month after clashing with the administration over policy. There has not been a permanent leader at the agency since Ms. Monarez was forced out.Dr. Erica Schwartz faced tough questions Wednesday from both Republicans and Democrats on the Senate’s health committee over whether she, like Ms. Monarez, would stand up to pressure from the administration to implement policies that she believes conflict with science.“We need a CDC director that will actually stand up to crazy, stupid things being said that undermine faith in immunization,” the Republican chairman of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Senator Bill Cassidy told Ms. Schwartz.“I will never compromise on the science,” Dr. Schwartz replied. She repeatedly stopped short of saying she would refuse to implement any policy that she disagreed with.Last November, language on the CDC’s autism page was updated. A bold headline near the top of the page retained the previously existing language saying: “Vaccines do not cause Autism.” But below it, the text was updated to state, “The claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.”An asterisk leads to a footnote saying the header “has not been removed due to an agreement with the chair of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.” Dr. Cassidy cast the deciding vote in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation process after receiving a pledge to keep the vaccine language on the page.The top-ranking Democrat on the committee, Senator Bernie Sanders, asked Dr. Schwartz if she would commit to removing the updated information suggesting a link between vaccines and autism. Dr. Schwartz said she had not seen the website and would need to discuss it with Mr. Kennedy.Mr. Sanders then asked Ms. Schwartz if she would report to Congress if she received directives from Mr. Kennedy or anyone else in the Trump administration to implement policies that she considered unscientific and could hurt the American population.Dr. Schwartz responded that she did not believe Mr. Trump or Mr. Kennedy would ever do that.“Really?” Mr. Sanders reacted incredulously. “You think that is the record?”When Senator Angela Alsobrooks asked Dr. Schwartz if she supported vaccine mandates in the military, Ms. Schwartz said she did “in certain circumstances.”“I want to be the CDC director for all Americans. I don’t want to be the CDC director just for Americans that believe in vaccines,” Dr. Schwartz added later. Dr. Cassidy asked follow-up questions near the end of the more than two-hour confirmation hearing. He told Dr. Schwartz that he was disappointed in her answers and felt like she was avoiding direct answers.Dr. Schwartz’s nomination was seen as a traditional choice for the role as the administration attempted to step back from controversial vaccine policy changes in the first year of the Trump administration. The American Public Health Association supported Dr. Schwartz’s nomination when it was announced in April. It declined a request to comment in reaction to her nomination hearing.

Trump’s Third Pick To Run CDC Grilled on Vaccines During Senate Confirmation Hearing

Trump’s Third Pick To Run CDC Grilled on Vaccines During Senate Confirmation Hearing

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