Coverage spread: 2 sources — 1 left · 1 center
Lean ratings via AllSides / Media Bias-Fact-Check. How this works.
Where they agree
- The Senate confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz as CDC director on a 51-44 vote, largely along party lines.
- Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) was the only Democrat to vote for her confirmation.
- This makes Schwartz the CDC’s first permanent, Senate-confirmed director in roughly a year, following the firing of Susan Monarez and a string of acting directors including Jay Bhattacharya.
- Schwartz’s nomination came a month after the legally required deadline for naming a permanent CDC director.
Where they differ
- The Hill’s two pieces are short wire-style updates focused mainly on vote counts and procedure, with little background.
- NBC News provides substantially more context, covering Schwartz’s Navy and Coast Guard background, the measles and cyclosporiasis outbreaks she inherits, and the vaccine-hesitancy backdrop.
- Only NBC News details the friction at Schwartz’s confirmation hearing, including Sen. Bill Cassidy’s pointed questioning about whether she’d challenge Kennedy, and his eventual reasons for supporting her.
- NBC News alone mentions the HHS webpage change on vaccines and autism that Cassidy cited as a “sign of good faith” ahead of the vote.
The Senate voted 51-44 on Wednesday to confirm Dr. Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, giving the agency its first Senate-confirmed, permanent leader in nearly a year. The vote broke largely along party lines, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed, except for Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who crossed over to support her.
How did the vote play out?
Schwartz first cleared a procedural hurdle on a 51-43 vote to end debate, before the Senate confirmed her outright 51-44. Kaine was the only Democrat to back her. He has said he regretted voting against the CDC’s previous director, Susan Monarez, and had personally apologized to her for it — a sign that his vote for Schwartz was shaped partly by that earlier episode.
Who is Erica Schwartz?
Schwartz served as deputy surgeon general during President Trump’s first term. Before that, she worked as a Navy physician and as chief medical officer for the Coast Guard. She takes over from Jay Bhattacharya, who had been running the CDC on an acting basis since February while simultaneously directing the National Institutes of Health. The agency has cycled through a series of acting directors since August 2025, when Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired Monarez just 29 days into her tenure. Federal law had required the administration to name a permanent nominee by March, but Schwartz’s nomination came a month past that deadline.
What will she be responsible for right away?
As director, Schwartz will oversee the CDC’s public health response, including sign-off on vaccine recommendations and coordination of outbreak containment. She inherits a measles outbreak described as the worst in 35 years by case count, along with a growing outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a parasitic illness tied to shredded iceberg lettuce. She also takes charge amid rising vaccine hesitancy nationally, which some public health experts attribute in part to rhetoric and policy moves from Kennedy.
Why did some senators hesitate to support her?
Schwartz was generally viewed as a mainstream, conventional pick for the job, but her confirmation hearing last month raised concerns among some public health experts and lawmakers. She told senators that vaccines are safe and effective, yet she also said she was unaware of certain vaccine policy changes made under Kennedy and avoided directly answering whether she supported them. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, pressed her on whether she would stand up to Kennedy if he tried to undermine science, and accused her at the hearing of dodging the question. Cassidy said the CDC needs a director willing to push back on “crazy, stupid things being said that undermine faith in immunization.”
What changed Cassidy’s mind?
Cassidy ultimately backed Schwartz’s nomination last month after further conversations with her and with colleagues who had worked with her, saying he became confident she knows what she’s doing and would stand against those who don’t. He also pointed to a change HHS made to a CDC webpage on vaccines and autism as a “sign of good faith.” That page had claimed since November that studies hadn’t ruled out a link between childhood vaccines and autism.
Why does this matter beyond the vote itself?
The confirmation ends an unusually long stretch without a permanent, Senate-confirmed CDC director — a gap that spanned a chaotic firing, missed legal deadlines, and a rotating cast of acting leaders. It also puts a new person in charge of vaccine policy at a moment of heightened political tension over immunization guidance under Kennedy’s leadership of HHS. How Schwartz balances her stated support for vaccine science with her handling of Kennedy’s more contested positions is likely to shape how the agency responds to the ongoing measles and cyclosporiasis outbreaks.
Where do the sources differ?
The Hill’s coverage is brief and vote-focused, noting the tally and Kaine’s crossover vote without much elaboration. NBC News offers far more depth, detailing Schwartz’s background, the outbreaks she inherits, the friction at her confirmation hearing, and Cassidy’s reasoning for eventually supporting her, including the HHS webpage change he cited as a good-faith gesture.
Sources
Featured photo: Nrbelex at nl.en.wikipedia via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5)