The appointment of a new leader for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with scientific credentials and no public ties to the anti-vaccination movement has brought a sigh of relief to the public health world.
One CDC official, speaking on condition of anonymity Friday, said the “overall mood is cautious but hopeful” among staff.
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Still, even those praising the choice of retired Maj. Gen. Erica Schwartz for the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Forces are worried about whether she will be up to the challenges ahead.
Mr. Schwartz’s predecessor, Susan Monales, was fired over a conflict with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy. One sign of her precarious position is that during her brief tenure, Monales tried to move political appointees she had not hired from her office to another floor. Her decision was overturned.
Things have changed in the months since Monales was fired. President Kennedy is under pressure to set aside his pursuit of vaccine policy changes. Some of his supporters question Schwartz’s choice to head the CDC. Schwartz had strong, if somewhat qualified, support from her former boss, Jerome Adams, the Surgeon General in the first Trump administration.
“She has the expertise, credibility, and integrity to effectively lead CDC,” Adams wrote on social media. “If she is allowed to follow the science without political interference, she will excel.”
Adams declined to be interviewed about Schwartz. “Dr. Schwartz is a physician, public health expert, and military veteran who is uniquely qualified to lead CDC in its mission to protect America from infectious disease threats,” Health and Human Services Secretary Rich Danker said in a statement.
Experts fear Mr. Schwartz’s fate will be similar to Mr. Monares’. Mr. Schwartz is someone who understands how government should work and is well-equipped to make science-based decisions given an unforgivable task.
Some worry that Mr. Schwartz’s long military career, including service in the Navy and Coast Guard, will lead him to follow orders even if it means implementing policies that are not backed by science.
Former CDC Center Director Daniel Jernigan, who resigned in protest of Monales’ firing, told STAT: “It’s not about her. It’s about what the director is going to do.” “She can be a terrible person, or she can be a wonderful person, but it’s really about what a secretary will tolerate.”
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Abby Tighe, a former CDC employee who lost her job in February 2025 during CDC’s first round of layoffs, said she was heartened to see someone with the right qualifications appointed to run the agency. But she remains skeptical.
“What concerns me most in the wake of Dr. Monares’ case is that Dr. Schwartz was chosen by this administration to rubber-stamp misinformation and flawed health care policy,” said Tai, one of the founders of the National Public Health Coalition, formerly known as Fired Butt Fighting.
“I sincerely hope things don’t end this way, but after a year and a half of trauma and turmoil at the CDC, it’s hard to trust any nominee from the current administration, no matter how qualified,” she said.
Jernigan first connected with Schwartz during the coronavirus pandemic, when, as deputy surgeon general in the first Trump administration, she was tasked with setting up public testing sites for the coronavirus, the tents and drive-throughs that were widespread in the early months of the pandemic. “She really jumped on it, took it on and made it happen,” he said.
A former member of the Biden transition team recalled dealing with Schwartz, who was designated as the HHS liaison during the first Trump administration.
“She was an important figure and inherently difficult, making it difficult to set up meetings and get information,” said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “She was an intentional bottleneck that prevented the new team from getting basic information about how the department was run.”
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This experience is unlikely to eliminate concerns about whether she had the inclination or influence to stand up to Kennedy if the need arose.
Amesh Adalja, a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, said Schwartz’s resume appears to be consistent with the CDC’s mission, but without autonomy from Kennedy, it’s just “window dressing.” He suggested that she should have requested that before agreeing to take the job.
The Washington Post reported that several candidates were removed from consideration for the job when they made such requests, particularly those seeking hiring and firing powers like those enjoyed by Mehmet Oz, director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Still, the Post reported that Schwartz would be given a “free hand” in running the CDC.
Search committee officials were focused on finding viable candidates, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
There have been conflicting signals recently about the administration’s positions on important public health issues such as vaccination policy and the CDC’s independence more generally.
According to a poll commissioned by the White House, President Kennedy’s weakened vaccination policy is unpopular not only with Democrats but also with Republicans. Word from the White House is that it has met its initial goals on vaccination policy and that President Kennedy should focus on the more popular aspects of his agenda ahead of November’s midterm elections.
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But actions speak louder than words, and recent evidence casts doubt on how tightly the White House is trying to rein in Mr. Kennedy.
ACIP’s charter was rewritten after a federal court issued a preliminary ruling last month that found the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a group appointed by President Kennedy after he summarily dismissed the previous committee, was not staffed with sufficient qualifications for the job.
A new version released last week diluted the type of expertise required to serve on the committee, refocusing its mandate away from the effective use of vaccines and toward studying their harms.
On the same day the new charter was announced, the Post reported that Jay Bhattacharyya, director of the National Institutes of Health and de facto acting director of the CDC, had delayed publication of research showing the effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines in preventing severe illness and hospitalization.
An HHS spokesperson confirmed the news report and said Bhattacharyya had concerns about the methodology used in the study, even though it was standard.
If confirmed by the Senate, Schwartz would face new challenges. The Secretary’s office has become a repository for political appointees, most of whom have no public health experience or medical qualifications. Some ran unsuccessfully as Republicans, and others worked on Republican campaigns. There are also people who are anti-vaccine.
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For most of its history, the CDC had one political appointee: the director. Before this week, an estimated 18 political appointees had been incorporated into government agencies over the past 15 months. Three more people were added Thursday to coincide with Schwartz’s nomination announcement, replacing former Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham, who left the CDC after less than two months on the job, and Linda Chapman, who is moving to a new role at HHS.
They are Sean Slovenski, former president of Walmart Health & Wellness, who serves as CDC deputy director and chief operating officer; Jennifer Shuford is the Texas State Health Commissioner, infectious disease physician, and vice president and chief medical officer. Sarah Brenner, deputy chief deputy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, will become Kennedy’s senior public health adviser.
Dallas Health Director Phil Huang said Texas would be sad to lose Shuford, but that her strong background in public health, including managing pandemics and voicing support for vaccinations, makes her the perfect person for the job “as long as we get the support we need.”
“If[the new appointees]say this is what we need to do for public health, they are trusted by senior leadership at HHS for their expertise,” he said.
It’s unclear whether Mr. Schwartz had any say in the hiring of the three men. And it remains to be seen whether she will be given the power to reduce the ranks of previously appointed political appointees, and whether she will choose to do so once given the power.
This is important because the presence of this group sends a message to staff about who is actually in charge of the agency.
“There are still people in that office, like Stuart Burns, who personally do not have the best interests of the office at heart,” Jernigan said. “And until they’re gone, they’re going to run into trouble.”
“The proposed name is a good one,” he continued. “But the situation hasn’t changed, we’re just adding more politicians (appointees) to it.”
