Erica Schwartz, the Trump administration’s latest nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), faced sharp questioning from senators who pressed her to say whether she would stand up to her boss, the health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
During her confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Schwartz, a deputy surgeon general in the first Trump administration, told the Senate health committee she “will never betray the science” and pledged to use “radical transparency” to rebuild public trust. But she repeatedly deflected questions about how she would handle pressure from Kennedy, a leader in the anti-vaccine movement who has overseen months of turmoil at the agency and made controversial changes to US vaccine policies.
