New CDC director is confirmed, giving agency its first permanent leader in a year

There are no new alerts at this time The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, making her the health agency’s first permanent director in roughly a year. The 51-44 vote was largely split along party lines, with Republicans in favor and Democrats against, though Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., voted with Republicans. Kaine said last month that he regretted voting against the previous CDC director, Susan Monarez, and had apologized to her.

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Scoop News DeskU.S · Published Wednesday, August 5, 2026 at 7:11 PM UTCUpdated Wednesday, August 5, 2026 at 11:36 PM UTC

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The National Public Health Coalition, an advocacy group of former CDC employees that has been critical of Kennedy, said in a statement last month that it would not support Schwartz’s nomination based on her performance at the hearing. “The public needed to hear clear commitments about how she would protect CDC guidance from political pressure. Federal law required the Trump administration to nominate a permanent director in March, but Schwartz’s nomination came a month after the deadline.