Senate confirms Erica Schwartz as CDC director

The U.S. Senate confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on August 5, 2026, ending a nearly yearlong vacancy at the top of the nation's leading public health agency. The vote was 51 to 44, largely along party lines, with Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia being the only member of his party to support the nomination.

Schwartz, a retired rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, served as deputy surgeon general during the first Trump administration. She holds medical and law degrees and previously spent 24 years as an occupational medicine physician in the Navy and Coast Guard. She will be the second Senate-confirmed director of the CDC, a position that only required congressional approval following a 2023 law.

Her confirmation follows the abrupt firing of her predecessor, Dr. Susan Monarez, by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in August 2025, less than a month into her tenure. Monarez later told Congress she was dismissed after refusing to preemptively approve changes to vaccine policy without scientific review. The agency has since been led by interim directors.