Trump appoints Erica Schwartz as CDC director
Rear Admiral Erica G. Schwartz.
US Department of Health and Human Services
President Donald Trump on Thursday named Erica Schwartz director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, capping a months-long effort to choose a permanent head of the embattled health agency.
Schwartz, who must be confirmed by the Senate, would assume the role of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and oversee a series of controversial health policy changes at the agency, including an overhaul of childhood vaccination recommendations.
Schwartz served as deputy surgeon general during the first Trump administration, where she played a key role in the U.S. response to the Covid-19 pandemic. She spent more than 20 years in uniform, including as a rear admiral and chief surgeon of the Coast Guard.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya was acting director of the CDC — a title that expired last month under federal law. That law, called the Vacancies Act, limits the amount of time a sitting official can serve in place of a Senate-confirmed official to 210 days.
At the end of last month, it was 210 days since the youngest CDC director, Dr. Susan Monarez, was fired.
A sign stands in front of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Roybal Campus in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, on March 18, 2026.
Megan Varner | Reuters
She was the only person to serve as confirmed CDC director during Trump’s second term, holding the position for less than a month last summer. In testimony before Congress in September, Monarez said she was fired after rejecting Kennedy’s demands to approve vaccination recommendations that she said were not scientifically based.
It’s unclear how Schwartz’s views on vaccines or other important public health measures compare with Kennedy’s.
Also on Thursday, Trump said he had chosen Sean Slovenski as CDC deputy director and chief operating officer and Jennifer Shuford as CDC deputy director and chief medical officer. Shuford, as head of the Texas Department of State Health Services, led the state’s response to a massive measles outbreak last year and credited vaccinations and testing for declaring the measles outbreak.
Schwartz’s nomination comes after several tumultuous months for the agency, which has been reeling from leadership upheaval, declining morale, significant staff turnover and controversial changes to U.S. vaccination policy. Before leadership’s departure last year, employees were shaken by an armed attack on CDC headquarters in Atlanta on August 8.
Last month, a judge blocked a critical vaccine panel’s efforts to overhaul U.S. vaccination policy. This also includes an effort to reduce the number of recommended vaccinations for children from 17 to 11.
Trust in federal health authorities fell sharply during Kennedy’s tenure as health and human services secretary, according to a February survey by health policy research group KFF, with declines across the political spectrum.
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