Trump’s pick to lead CDC signals shift away from vaccine skepticism

President Trump’s selection of a longtime civil servant and public health veteran to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the strongest signal yet that the administration is shifting away from a rhetoric of vaccine skepticism ahead of the midterm elections.

Trump on Thursday tapped Erica Schwartz, the deputy surgeon general during his first term, to lead the beleaguered agency. If confirmed, Schwartz would be the fourth person to lead CDC in less than a year, and its second full-time director. 

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the previous Senate-confirmed director, Susan Monarez, less than a month into the job following a disagreement over vaccines. 

“Erica graduated from Brown University for College and Medical School, and served a distinguished career as a Doctor of Medicine in the United States Military, the Greatest and Most Powerful Force in the World, and then served as my Deputy Surgeon General during my First Term,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Thursday. “She is a STAR!”  

At the same time, Trump named three other top officials who will help lead an agency that has been shaken by multiple rounds of mass firings, deep budget cuts, a shooting at its Atlanta headquarters, and denigrated as corrupt by Kennedy. 

Sean Slovenski, former president of Walmart Health, was tapped to be the CDC Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer; Jennifer Shuford, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, as the CDC Deputy Director and Chief Medical Officer; and Sara Brenner, FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner, as Senior Counselor for Public Health to Kennedy. 

“These Highly Respected Doctors of Medicine have the knowledge, experience, and TOP degrees to restore the GOLD STANDARD OF SCIENCE at the CDC,” Trump wrote. 

Schwartz is seen as a traditional pick for the position. She has no public record opposing vaccinations or obvious ties to the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. 

Before her stint as deputy surgeon general, Schwartz served as chief medical officer for the U.S. Coast Guard where she led disease surveillance programs and wrote policies on pandemic influenza, Ebola and other viral disease outbreaks.  

“A battle-tested leader with decades of distinguished public service -including as a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service and Coast Guard – she has the expertise, credibility, and integrity to lead the CDC effectively,” Jerome Adams, who served as surgeon general during the first Trump administration, said in a post on X Thursday. 

Adams said he personally selected Schwartz as his deputy. 

“If allowed to follow the science without political interference, she’ll excel,” he wrote.  

David Mansdoerfer, a former senior Department of Health and Human Services official in the first Trump administration, said Schwartz was the perfect pick for the job. 

Aside from her public health credentials, “she’s a good executive leader that will be able to right the ship and stabilize a CDC that frankly, has been on its haunches since the COVID response,” Mansdoerfer said.  

He urged MAHA activists to give Schwartz a chance.

“I had the pleasure of working with her while she was the deputy Surgeon General, and I think she’s very open minded, and follows the evidence and is willing to have conversations on any topic and give you what she thinks is the best course of action,” Mansdoerfer said. 

Schwartz’s nomination comes as the White House seeks to tamp down on Kennedy’s vaccine policies ahead of November’s midterm elections, as polls show the public is supportive of vaccines and doesn’t approve of his moves. 

The administration instead wants to shift the public’s focus to popular ideas like drug pricing and the less extreme parts of the MAHA agenda, like food safety and healthy eating. 

A December memo from Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio warned that “skepticism toward vaccine requirements is politically risky,” but noted other aspects of the MAHA agenda like food and agriculture are “broadly popular.” 

Just before Trump’s announcement Thursday, Kennedy told lawmakers during a House appropriations hearing that the CDC team has “gotten applause from both Republicans and Democrats.” 

“This new team is really going to be able to revolutionize CDC and get it back on track and get it doing the job that it does better than any other health agency in the world,” Kennedy said.  

Kennedy himself has notably toned down his vaccine rhetoric across numerous public appearances in recent weeks, despite the actions he and his allies have taken over the past year to reduce vaccine access.  

Kennedy dismissed a key panel of 17 experts that advise the CDC on its vaccine decisions, and replaced them with his own picks, many of whom have publicly questioned vaccine safety. He also bypassed that committee to unilaterally overhaul the federal government’s childhood vaccine schedule to recommend fewer shots for children.  

A federal judge blocked those moves last month, and the government has yet to appeal. 

Kennedy also directed CDC to walk back its decades-old insistence that vaccines do not cause autism, changing a webpage without the input of agency scientists. 

Yet during three congressional hearings Thursday and Friday, Kennedy only mentioned vaccines when confronted by Democrats.  

While deflecting responsibility for numerous measles outbreaks across the country, he acknowledged the measles vaccine could have saved the life of an unvaccinated child who died of measles complications in Texas. 

He also said the MMR vaccine was safe “for most people.” 

Despite the White House’s apparent desire to rein in Kennedy ahead of the midterms, a former CDC official questioned whether the CDC could truly be independent with Kennedy still leading the health department.  

“As long as the secretary is in place, it’s unclear to me what will change,” said Debra Houry, the CDC’s former chief medical officer until she resigned following Monarez’s firing. 

Houry noted political appointees and Kennedy allies from his days leading the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense are still entrenched at HHS. 

“They aren’t really systematically changing what they are doing. They’re just publicly messaging differently,” Houry said.  

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

More Administration News

Iran says Strait of Hormuz will close again amid US blockade

GOP Sen. Katie Britt: House-passed bill to extend Haitian refugee status DOA in ...

Iranian state news outlet questions foreign minister’s ‘unexpected tweet’ ...

Senate GOP losing patience with Speaker Johnson as DHS faces crisis

White House, FBI looking into case of missing scientists: ‘No stone will be ...

Trump administration reverses course, extends Russian oil sanctions waiver

US-Iran talks take sudden, uncertain shift with sweeping claims on both sides

Collins, Tillis signal shift on Trump war powers if Iran war hits 60-day mark

POTUS vs Pontiff: Trump feud with Pope Leo marks unprecedented moment

Judge rejects Trump lawsuit to block Hawaii from filing climate lawsuit 

Lutnick blasts Canada on trade: 'They suck'

Hegseth shares air rescue group’s ‘Pulp Fiction’ prayer at Pentagon ...

Popular weight loss medications linked to hidden side effects, study finds

Trump NRA snub fuels questions about key GOP ally’s influence

The Memo: Trump’s claims on Iran feed optimism — and confusion

Trump revels in Tucker Carlson’s ‘freefall’ in GOP opinion polling 

White House budget director Vought declines to tell senators cost of Iran war

© The Hill