Erica Schwartz, the Trump administration’s pick to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told senators she accepts that vaccines do not cause autism, according to accounts of her confirmation hearing. She was much less direct when asked whether she would resist Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if he pushed the agency away from its scientific advice.
The distinction matters for the CDC’s day-to-day work. The agency does not just publish guidance. It runs public health surveillance, vaccine recommendations, communications campaigns and internal staffing decisions. If the director cannot say who controls those levers, the job starts to look less like leadership and more like a nameplate.
Schwartz appeared before senators after Kennedy told Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing that he would not promise to follow vaccine guidance issued by Schwartz if she is confirmed. Ruiz asked whether Kennedy would implement whatever vaccine guidance she issued “without interference.” Kennedy answered, “I’m not going to make that kind of commitment.”
That answer set up the Senate questioning. The Well News reported that Schwartz repeatedly declined during the hearing to say whether she would push back against political pressure from Kennedy on vaccine policy.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the committee chairman, pressed Schwartz on whether she would control personnel and policy decisions at the CDC without interference from HHS. According to The Well News, Schwartz did not directly say whether she could hire and fire CDC staff on her own, or whether she would reject an instruction from Kennedy that conflicted with scientific evidence.
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., asked whether Schwartz would carry out an order to end a public campaign encouraging flu vaccination. Schwartz replied, “I don’t speak in hypotheticals,” according to The Well News.
On the core science, Schwartz gave a clearer answer. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked about a CDC webpage, updated last November, concerning autism and vaccines. ABC News has reported that the page says a possible link has been ignored, despite many studies finding no such link.
Schwartz said she accepts there is “overwhelming evidence” that vaccines do not cause autism, according to The Well News. She did not commit to removing the webpage.
Instead, Schwartz pointed to her military experience. “Senator, I have been in situations where I have had to go to my superiors in the military to have conversations, very difficult conversations, about things that may have been concerning to the troops or to the military personnel, and I will do the same with [Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.],” she said, according to The Well News.
The hearing leaves senators with two separate questions. Schwartz’s answer on autism and vaccines aligns with the scientific consensus described in the hearing. Her answers on authority leave unresolved whether CDC recommendations under her would be insulated from Kennedy’s political judgment.
This story draws on original reporting from Techdirt.
