Senators Look to Trump’s CDC Director Nominee for Assurances on Vaccines

Erica Schwartz is Trump’s third nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins

Sen. Bill Cassidy chairs the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Tom Williams/AP

Erica Schwartz, the Trump administration’s third nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, assured senators she supports vaccines in her confirmation hearing before the Senate Wednesday morning.

“My sacred responsibility is to provide the American people with public health guidance that’s clear, honest, and evidence-based,” Schwartz said in her opening remarks. “I will never betray the science.”

That’s what Sen. Bill Cassidy, the chair of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said he was looking to hear.