Trump nominates Erica Schwartz as CDC director
A sign stands outside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Roybal campus in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, March 18, 2026.
Megan Varner | Reuters
President Donald Trump on Thursday nominated Erica Schwartz to be director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, capping a months-long effort to install a permanent leader at the embattled health agency.
Schwartz will need to be confirmed by the Senate.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya was acting director of the CDC, which ended last month under federal law. This law, called the Vacancies Act, limits the length of time an acting official can serve in place of a Senate-confirmed official to 210 days.
Late last month, the latest CDC director, Dr. It’s been 210 days since Susan Monarez was fired.
He is the only person so far to serve as confirmed CDC director during Trump’s second term, holding the post for less than a month last summer. In congressional testimony in September, Monarez said he was fired after rejecting requests from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to approve vaccine proposals that he believed lacked scientific support.
The nomination comes after a tumultuous few months for the agency, which has been rocked by leadership turmoil, falling morale, significant staff turnover and controversial changes to U.S. vaccine policy. Before the leadership left last summer, staff were shaken by an attack by a gunman. Attack on CDC’s Atlanta headquarters On August 8th.
A judge last month blocked a critical vaccine panel’s efforts to overhaul U.S. vaccination policy. This includes an effort to reduce the recommended number of childhood vaccines from 17 to 11.
Trust in federal health agencies declined during Kennedy’s tenure as Health and Human Services secretary. February survey Drops were seen across the political spectrum from health policy research group KFF.
