Senate confirms Erica Schwartz as new CDC leader

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will soon have a new official director for the first time in nearly a year, after the Senate on Wednesday voted to confirm Dr. Erica Schwartz. 

Schwartz was confirmed on a mostly party-line 51-44 vote. Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.) was the lone Democrat to vote in her favor.  

Schwartz is the first Senate-confirmed CDC director in nearly a year. The agency has been under acting leadership since Susan Monarez was fired last August after what she described as a clash with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over his attempts to roll back childhood vaccines. 

Schwartz is set to take over an agency that’s been in turmoil since President Trump took office. Morale has plummeted, and the agency has lost more than a quarter of its workforce through layoffs and resignations.  

At the same time, the agency is facing some of its biggest challenges. There’s an ongoing measles outbreak as cases flare among unvaccinated people, fueled largely by misinformation. The country is also........

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