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. On social media, she has championed the use of vaccines as part of preventive health. Earlier this month, she posted a video for National Public Health Week speaking of her time as a military physician. “My job was all about readiness, it was all about public health: prevention, vaccines, early detection. If we get that right, we change lives before illness ever begins,” she said. Caution Outside public health experts have praised her nomination, highlighting her qualifications. But, they’re also wary of how an evidence-based health official will be able to function amid Kennedy’s anti-vaccine efforts and interference from the many like-minded allies he has installed at the CDC.
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