Senate Committee Advances Trump’s CDC and ASPR Nominees Amid Vaccine-Misinformation Concerns

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted on Thursday to advance President Donald Trump’s nominees for the nation’s top public-health posts. The panel approved Dr. Erica Schwartz’s nomination to become director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by a 12-10 margin and confirmed Sean Kaufman as administrator of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) by a 12-11 vote. All Republican members supported both nominees; Democratic and independent members split along party lines.

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The CDC has endured more than a year of instability. Since the administration’s return to office, the agency has lost over 3,000 employees—more than one-quarter of its workforce—through layoffs and resignations, leading to plummeting morale and a succession of temporary leaders. Concurrently, the department’s vaccine-policy stance has become a flashpoint. Health and Human Services (HHS) recently edited a CDC webpage that previously suggested a link between vaccines and autism, replacing the claim with language that “vaccines do not cause autism” is not evidence-based. The change was presented as a concession to Senate concerns but did not fully resolve the controversy.

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• CDC staff reduction: > 3,000 employees (? 25 % of workforce).

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• HELP Committee vote on Schwartz: 12-10 (party-line).

The Hill

• HELP Committee vote on Kaufman: 12-11 (party-line).

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He also noted assurances from HHS that Kaufman would not be involved in vaccine policy decisions, despite the nominee’s prior remarks questioning the safety of mRNA vaccines and the birth-dose hepatitis B vaccine.

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Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) expressed stark doubt about Schwartz’s willingness to confront what he described as “conspiracy theories” promoted by the health secretary.

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Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, interpreted Schwartz’s hearing performance as an attempt to “please different factions,” while still acknowledging her qualifications.

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Former CDC official Dr. Daniel Jernigan warned that failure to confirm Schwartz would leave the agency “rudderless,” and suggested that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would continue pursuing “anti-science and anti-vaccine efforts” without a confirmed director.

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While HHS edited the CDC webpage to remove the phrase linking vaccines to autism, the page still states that “vaccines do not cause autism” is not an evidence-based claim, creating ambiguity about the agency’s official position. Additionally, Schwartz declined to commit to removing the contested webpage or to publicly dissent from any future vaccine-policy directives, leaving the extent of her independence unclear.

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• “We have a secretary of Health and Human Services who fosters and propagates conspiracy theories on vaccines and other important issues. And the question, I think, big question before this committee: Are nominees going to be prepared to stand up to those conspiracy theories, those dangerous theories?” — Bernie Sanders

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The full Senate is expected to consider the nominations after the August recess, with the likelihood that confirmation votes will not occur before September. Senators have indicated they will continue to monitor the nominees’ positions on vaccine misinformation and agency autonomy as the process moves forward.

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