Overview
- Testifying Tuesday, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he did not speak to President Trump about nominating Dr. Erica Schwartz and said HHS sent her name while senior counselor Chris Klomp raised it with the president.
- Schwartz is a career public‑health physician, a former deputy surgeon general, and a retired Coast Guard rear admiral with a pro‑vaccination record, and her nomination now moves to the Senate.
- Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams praised Schwartz as highly qualified but warned she could face pressure inside a vaccine‑skeptical HHS to choose ideology over evidence.
- Kennedy has offered qualified support for the measles, mumps, and rubella shot in sworn testimony while questioning some studies, and the CDC has recorded more than 1,700 measles cases in the first four months of 2026.
- News reports have said the White House wants less vaccine‑hostile talk before the midterms, which Kennedy denied under oath, and analysts say the Schwartz pick curbs his sway at the CDC and could test the agency’s independence in her hearings.