周三，在美国疾病控制与预防中心(CDC)下一任主任提名听证会上，埃丽卡・施瓦茨博士接受多名参议员质询，议题围绕疫苗政策以及能否独立执掌机构展开。
参议院卫生、教育、劳工与养老金委员会资深委员、佛蒙特州独立参议员伯尼・桑德斯向施瓦茨发问，询问她是否会删除疾控中心官网去年 11 月更新的一篇关于自闭症与疫苗的网页。该页面写道：尽管大量研究证实疫苗与自闭症不存在关联，但仍有人刻意无视这一结论，宣称二者相关。
施瓦茨表示，她认可 “海量证据证明疫苗不会引发自闭症”，但并未承诺撤下该网页。
她回应：“参议员，我在军中任职时，曾多次需要向上级开展艰难沟通，讨论士兵和军方人员关心的各类问题。未来面对(卫生部长小罗伯特・肯尼迪)，我也会采取同样方式沟通。”
新罕布什尔州民主党参议员玛吉・哈桑提问：倘若肯尼迪要求疾控中心在流感高发季停止推广流感疫苗，施瓦茨是否会照办。施瓦茨回避问题，表示自己不会针对假设性情景作答。
哈桑追问：“你会保护我们的孩子，还是听从卫生部长缺乏科学依据的指令?”
施瓦茨回答：“参议员，我永远、永远都会保护儿童。” 哈桑称这个答复 “令人失望”，并强调流感疫苗能够保护民众、挽救生命。
施瓦茨曾任美国副总医官，特朗普总统于今年 4 月提名她出任疾控中心主任。特朗普在 “真相社交” 平台发文宣布该任命，评价施瓦茨 “极具才干”。
自去年夏季以来，施瓦茨是第四位被提名或指定执掌疾控中心的人选。若获得参议院批准，她将接替杰伊・巴塔查里亚博士。巴塔查里亚现任美国国立卫生研究院院长，今年 2 月起兼任疾控中心代理主任。
施瓦茨在布朗大学取得医学博士学位，2005 年前在美国海军服役。她曾任职于美国公共卫生服务军官团，担任美国海岸警卫队首席医务官，并在特朗普首届政府任期内(2019 年至 2021 年初)出任副总医官。
奥巴马政府时期曾任疾控中心代理主任的理查德・贝瑟博士在接受美国广播公司采访时表示：“得知施瓦茨博士获提名担任疾控中心负责人，我十分欣慰。令人眼前一亮的是，这名候选人拥有扎实的公共卫生从业经历，具备领导这一大型公共卫生机构所需专业资质。”
贝瑟同时表达担忧：即便施瓦茨顺利上任，能否摆脱肯尼迪的干预、独立出台公共卫生政策。他提及前疾控中心主任苏珊・莫纳雷兹的遭遇。
莫纳雷兹 2025 年 7 月正式获批出任疾控中心主任，履职不足一个月就遭解职。据报道，肯尼迪解雇她的原因是她不愿盲目认同部长的疫苗政策议程，也拒绝辞退多名与部长意见相悖的疾控中心高层。
这场人事动荡后续引发国会关注，肯尼迪与莫纳雷兹二人均出席参议院委员会听证会，就解雇风波接受问询。
在参议院听证会上，肯尼迪否认曾要求莫纳雷兹在缺乏科学证据的情况下推行疫苗相关方案，并称解雇她的部分原因是莫纳雷兹亲口表示不值得信任。
路易斯安那州共和党参议员、委员会主席比尔・卡西迪当天重点追问施瓦茨，面对肯尼迪可能施加的政治干预，她是否敢于坚持立场。施瓦茨称，若提名通过，她将履职尽责。
“我会始终坚守底线、凭良知开展工作。” 施瓦茨说，“倘若我正式出任疾控中心主任，国民健康永远摆在首位，对此我绝不妥协。”
卡西迪对施瓦茨的答复感到不满，反复质询她能否保有独立决策权，在压力之下是否敢于说出真相。
卡西迪问道：“你能否不受政治干扰履行职责?”
施瓦茨回应：“部长一定会给予我充分空间履行疾控中心主任职责，这也是我今天坐在各位面前的原因。”
卡西迪继续追问：“你是否有底气拒绝伪科学、支持经过严谨验证的结论，坚守事实与真理，而不去迎合各类臆测与偏见?”
“主席，我向来坚持捍卫真相与正义，未来也会一如既往。我向您保证，我一定会做到。我永远不会背弃科学，一切决策追随科学证据，不会预先设定结论。” 施瓦茨答道。
同一天，肖恩・考夫曼也出席参议院卫生、教育、劳工与养老金委员会提名听证会。他获提名执掌战略准备与响应管理局(ASPR)。按照美国卫生与公众服务部 2025 年机构重组方案，该机构现已划归疾控中心管理。
考夫曼曾在没有实证支撑的情况下宣称，新冠疫苗在全美乃至全球造成 “大量非正常死亡与健康损害”。而卫生官员指出，数万受试者参与临床试验证实新冠疫苗安全有效，接种疫苗已挽救数百万人生命。
贝瑟评价：“我对考夫曼心存顾虑。他长期持强烈反疫苗观点，而战略准备与响应管理局掌管国家战略医疗储备。希望委员会充分质询，弄清他上任后的施政思路。”
整场听证会中，考夫曼反复声称自己支持疫苗接种，但多名参议员针对他过往的疫苗怀疑论持续发问。
听证会尾声，卡西迪拿出考夫曼一条已删除的领英帖子展开质询。考夫曼在帖子中对新生儿出生即接种乙肝疫苗提出质疑。
卡西迪指出，考夫曼文中声称推行新生儿乙肝疫苗的国家乙肝发病率更高，这种说法具有误导性。真实原因是这些国家母婴传播乙肝病毒现象普遍，并非疫苗引发患病。
“你这条领英帖子要么是认知不足，要么刻意误导公众…… 为什么要传播这种不实说法?” 卡西迪表示，这类误导性言论会摧毁民众信任。
考夫曼辩解，该帖早已删除，外界对帖子内容存在曲解。
他解释：“帖子里我明确写道，我始终认为疫苗是公共卫生领域的黄金标准。外界歪曲原文，谎称我将新生儿疫苗和自闭症相关联，这是误读。”
Dr. Erica Schwartz faces questions about vaccines at CDC director confirmation hearing
Dr. Erica Schwartz faced questions from senators on vaccines and running agencies independently during her confirmation hearing to be the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday.
Ranking Member Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked Schwartz if she would remove awebpage updated last Novemberon the CDC's website on autism and vaccines. The webpage states that a link between the two has been ignored despite many studies finding no such link.
Schwartz said she accepted there is "overwhelming evidence" vaccines don't cause autism, but did not commit to removing the webpage.
"Senator, I have been in situations where I have had to go to my superiors in the military to have conversations, very difficult conversations, about things that may have been concerning to the troops or to the military personnel, and I will do the same with [Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]," she replied.
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., asked Schwartz if she would stop the CDC from promoting the flu vaccine during a bad flu season if asked to do so by Kennedy.Schwartz dodged the question, saying she didn't speak in hypotheticals.
"Are you going to protect our kids, or are you going to follow an uninformed order from the secretary?" Hassan asked
"Senator, I will always, always protect our children," Schwartz replied. Hassan said that Schwartz's answer was "disappointing," stressing that the flu vaccine protects and saves lives.
Schwartz, a former deputy surgeon general, was nominated by President Donald Trump in April. Trump made the announcement in a post on Truth Social, describing Schwartz as "incredibly talented."
She is the fourth person named or nominated as head of the CDC since last summer. If confirmed by the Senate, Schwartz will replace Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, who took over as acting CDC director in February.
Schwartz earned a medical degree from Brown University and served in the U.S. Navy until 2005.
She served in theU.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, as the Coast Guard Chief Medical Officer and as Deputy Surgeon General from 2019 to early 2021, during the first Trump administration.
"I was very pleased to see Dr. Schwartz nominated to be the next director of the CDC," Dr. Richard Besser, former acting director of the CDC during the Obama administration, told ABC News. "What struck me is how refreshing it felt to see someone nominated for this job who actually has deep experience in public health and has the credentials necessary to lead a complex public health organization."
Besser expressed concern about whether Schwartz, if confirmed, will have the independence from Kennedy to make public health recommendations, referencing a previous CDC director: Susan Monarez.
Monarez wasconfirmed as CDC directorin July 2025, but she held the post for less than a month. Monarez was fired by Kennedy for reportedly not rubber-stamping the health secretary's vaccine agenda or firing high-ranking CDC leaders whom he opposed.
The turmoil led to both Kennedy and Monarez appearing in front of Senate committees to address the ousting.
At a Senate hearing, Kennedy denied telling Monarez to accept vaccine recommendations without scientific evidence and claimed she was fired in part because she told him she was untrustworthy.
Chairman Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., pressed Schwartz on Wednesday on her willingness to stand up to potential political interference by Kennedy. Schwartz said if she were to be confirmed, she would serve.
"I will continue to live and lead by my integrity," Schwartz said. "If I'm confirmed as theCDCdirector, the nation's health and well-being will take primacy and I will never compromise on that."
Cassidy grew frustrated with Schwartz and repeatedly questioned whether she would have independence in her role and if she would speak the truth even in difficult moments.
"Will you have the ability to do that free of political interference?" Cassidy said.
"Chairman, the secretary absolutely will allow me to bethe CDC director,"Schwartz replied,adding "That is why I am sitting here before you."
Cassidy then followed up with Schwartz another time. "Will you have the ability to say no to junk science, and to say yes to that which has been firmly established, and to stick up for what is actually right and true, as opposed to that which is superstition and prejudice?" he asked.
"Chairman, I have always stood up for what is right and what is true, and I believe that I will continue to do that," Schwartz answered. "You have my assurances that I will do that. I will never betray the science ever. I will go where the science leads us. I will not have predetermined answers to conclusions"
Sean Kaufman also appeared before the Senate HELP Committee for his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. Kaufman was nominated to lead the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, which was recently absorbed under CDC as part of an HHS reorganization in 2025.
Kaufman has claimed without evidence that the COVID-19 vaccine caused "excessive death and injury ... in the United States and globally." Health officials have said COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective following clinical trials that involved tens of thousands of people and have sincehelped save millions of lives.
"What concerns me about Mr. Kaufman is that he has expressed very strong anti-vaccine views, and the ASPR is responsible for the strategic national stockpile," Besser said. "So, I hope that the committee asks him questions to fully understand the approach that he would take in that role."
Throughout the hearing, Kaufman claimed that he supports the use of vaccines, but senators questioned his history of vaccine skepticism.
During the closing moments of the hearing, Cassidy seized on a since-deleted LinkedIn post that Kaufman had written, in which he expressed skepticism of the hepatitis B vaccine birth dose.
Cassidy said that Kaufman wrote countries that had a birth dose had the highest rates of hepatitis B, but that this is misleading because those countries had a high rate of hepatitis B being passed from mother to baby, not post-vaccination.
"So your LinkedIn post was either uninformed or deliberately misleading. ... Why would you repeat those damn lies?" Cassidy asked, adding that a misleading post "destroys trust."
Kaufman stressed that his social media post was pulled down and has since been mischaracterized.
“[In the post] I did say that I've always believed that vaccines are the gold standard of public health,” Kaufman explained. “It's in that same post. And that post that individuals have misrepresented and mischaracterized that I had tied the infant dose to autism, that's a mischaracterization."
