Cassidy will support CDC nominee, but attendance issues force vote postponement

Dr. Erica Schwartz, President Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), picked up a key endorsement from Senate Health Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) Thursday morning, but a scheduled vote on her nomination was postponed. 

“I’m confident that she knows what she is doing and will stand against those who do not,” Cassidy said when the committee convened.  

During her confirmation hearing last week, Cassidy questioned Schwartz about whether she could protect the agency from political meddling and stand up to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if he asked her to take action that was not supported by scientific evidence. 

Her predecessor, Susan Monarez, pushed back against Kennedy’s vaccine agenda and was fired after being on the job less than a month. 

Cassidy noted that “as a sign of good faith,” the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had modified the CDC’s website on vaccines and autism, which Kennedy ordered to be changed last year to include a disclaimer that vaccines do not cause autism “is not an evidence-based claim.” 

“There’s more to do to repair the damage that has been done to the U.S. public health response, but this is a start,”........

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