President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday attempted to demonstrate that she can restore trust in the agency, during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing. The issue of vaccines took center stage during the hearing for Erica Schwartz, who sought to assure senators that she wouldn’t take steps to restrict vaccine access or spread misinformation, while also proving that she can work under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Chair Bill Cassidy, R-La., who will be leaving the Senate after he lost his primary to Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow this spring, did not mince his words. The issue of vaccines has been “settled,” he said, but has been mired in misinformation such as a link between immunization and autism. The CDC last year removed the hepatitis B vaccine from the list of universally recommended doses received at birth, which drew backlash from the medical community. “You have to wonder why people would spread that misinformation,” Cassidy said. He repeatedly pressed Schwartz over whether she was prepared push back against pressure from superiors to make decisions that aren’t based in science. Cassidy harkened back to the exit of former CDC Director Susan Monarez less than a month on the job over disagreements with Kennedy. Monarez said that she had been asked to sign off on the CDC’s vaccine advisers’ recommendations ahead of time and to fire career CDC officials who disagreed with Kennedy. “We need a CDC director that will actually stand up to crazy, stupid things being said that undermine faith in immunization,” Cassidy said. “We've got thousands of kids hospitalized because people have promoted that immunization is bad, and now kids have died because of it. It is evil to do that, and people persist.” Throughout the hearing, Schwartz cited her past experience as a rear admiral for the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, a uniformed service focused on health issues, where she oversaw the Coast Guard’s system of clinics. She also previously served as an occupational medicine physician for the Navy. "If confirmed, my first priority will be restoring trust in public health institutions through radical transparency and unwavering scientific integrity," she told the committee. The CDC has been without a permanent director for nearly a year. National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya has been serving as interim director since February. Trump’s original choice to lead the agency, former Florida congressman Dave Weldon, withdrew before his confirmation hearing after support wavered because of his past statements about vaccines. <h2>Vitamin K shots</h2> Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., asked Schwartz whether she is prepared to contradict recommendations made by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices if they go against science. The CDC earlier this year got backlash from pediatric health experts over its decision to remove the flu vaccine from the list of universally recommended childhood vaccines. Schwartz responded that she would work with career scientists at the CDC to review the panel's recommendations before making a final decision, adding that the HHS secretary holds the ultimate decision-making power. “The buck stops with the CDC director when it comes to vaccine recommendations,” Hassan countered. In response to a question from Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., Schwartz said she is supportive of vaccine mandates for military members in “certain circumstances.” Schwartz also said she is supportive of vitamin K shots for infants, which are recommended within six hours of birth to assist with blood clotting. An increasing number of parents are refusing the vitamin K shot over growing skepticism of unnecessary medical interventions, often conflating them with vaccines. Alsobrooks, alongside Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Wash., is leading an effort to urge the CDC to start tracking refusals of vitamin K shots by new parents. “Vitamin K can absolutely reduce hemorrhaging in newborns,” she said. “It’s absolutely safe and it’s effective and I urge all parents to get the vitamin K shot.” The committee also heard testimony from Sean Kaufman, Trump’s pick to serve as the HHS assistant secretary for preparedness and response, a role that oversees the administration’s response to public health emergencies and natural disasters. Kaufman struggled to convince Cassidy that he would pour money into messenger RNA vaccine research in his position at the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. “I want a better mRNA platform but I believe before we proceed we owe it to those who had issues, not just to those who benefited and did okay, we owe it to everyone to explore how we can make the mRNA platform more viable,” Kaufman said. Cassidy also pointed to comments Kaufman previously made on LinkedIn, reported by STAT, that cast doubt on the hepatitis B vaccine and suggested a link between vaccines and autism. “Why would you repeat the damn lies?” Cassidy asked. “Because that destroys trust, and we don't start getting back to where we trust unless people speak the truth.”
