A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not had a permanent director for most of President Trump's second term. Trump's nominee to lead it is Dr. Erica Schwartz. She told senators at her confirmation hearing on Wednesday that she will restore trust in the agency.
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ERICA SCHWARTZ: My sacred responsibility is to provide the American people with public health guidance that is clear, honest and evidence-based.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Pien Huang has more.
PIEN HUANG, BYLINE: Schwartz is considered a mainstream candidate - a retired rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service. In the lead-up to the hearing, she made a concerted effort to gain support from both Republican and Democratic senators on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. She met with members like Senator John Hickenlooper, a Democrat from Colorado.
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SCHWARTZ: Senator, it was great to meet you. And I just wanted to say for the record, I did listen to "Wagon Wheel." Great banjo-playing.
JOHN HICKENLOOPER: (Laughter).
SCHWARTZ: So thank you for the recommendation.
HUANG: Schwartz is a preventive medicine doctor and former chief medical officer for the Coast Guard. She was clear in her defense of vaccines and certain vaccine mandates, but acknowledged that some Americans are vaccine-hesitant.
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SCHWARTZ: I want to be the CDC director for all Americans. I don't want to be the CDC director just for Americans that believe in vaccines. I want to be the CDC director for people that have concerns about vaccines.
HUANG: Schwartz was asked several times about withstanding political pressure from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who would be her boss, and President Trump. Here's one exchange with Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont.
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BERNIE SANDERS: Will you commit that you will report to Congress if you receive directives from Secretary Kennedy to implement policies that are unscientific and could harm the health and well-being of the American people?
SCHWARTZ: Senator, I do not believe that the president or the secretary would ever do what you just mentioned.
SANDERS: Really?
HUANG: Sanders pointed out that Kennedy fired the last CDC director for refusing to comply with his vaccine directives. Public health veterans, like Dr. Deb Houry, former chief medical officer at CDC, had hoped that Schwartz would take a clearer stance.
DEB HOURY: Some of her answers were really disappointing when they asked her about political interference, and she kept talking about it being hypothetical.
HUANG: But Houry says Schwartz was in a tough position, having to show her support for the president and secretary while assuring the senators that she would be an independent leader that follows the science. The committee will decide whether to advance her nomination for a full Senate vote.
Pien Huang, NPR News.
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