April 21 (UPI) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday that he didn’t speak to President Donald Trump about nominating Erica Schwartz to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Schwartz was nominated for the position, the president announced in a Truth Social post on April 16.
“She is a STAR!” Trump said.
He also announced other leadership changes at the CDC and HHS, then said, “These Highly Respected Doctors of Medicine have the knowledge, experience, and TOP degrees to restore the GOLD STANDARD OF SCIENCE at the CDC, which was an absolute disaster focused on ‘mandates’ under Sleepy Joe. Together, they will do a TREMENDOUS job leading the CDC as we continue to MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AND GREAT AGAIN!”
Kennedy told a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee Tuesday that he had met with Schwartz on “multiple occasions.” He said he had discussed her views on vaccinations. But it was HHS chief counselor Chris Klomp who brought up the nomination to Trump.
Schwartz was deputy surgeon general during the first Trump administration. She has spent much of her career in health positions in the U.S. military and has no public ties to the anti-vaccine movement, The Hill reported.
Former CDC Director Susan Monarez was fired last summer after less than a month because she disagreed with Kennedy over vaccines.
Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., questioned Kennedy about whether he’d support vaccine guidance from Schwartz.
“You’ll probably fire her” like Monarez, Ruiz said, “because you will not accept recommendations based on science.”
“That’s not true,” Kennedy said. He argued that he fired Monarez for other reasons.
Ruiz, a former emergency physician, criticized Kennedy over the CDC’s changes to the childhood vaccine schedule earlier this year. A judge blocked those changes.
“What you have demonstrated throughout your entire time as secretary is the dismantling of the childhood vaccination programs that has been detrimental to our nation and puts our nation at risk of getting more communicable diseases, which has been shown through the flu, through the measles, those cases have been rising,” Ruiz said.
Kennedy responded that he’s “never been anti-vax” and said he’s allocating $1 billion to vaccine research at the National Institutes of Health.
“If I was anti-vax, I wouldn’t be doing that,” he said. “I don’t believe all vaccines are bad. I’ve never said that. What I’ve said is they should be safety tested.”
Rep. Nanette Barragán, D-Calif., asked Kennedy if women are entitled to birth control, and Kennedy responded that they are.
She then asked why the Trump administration has cut funding to Title X, which provides grant funding for family planning and health services.
“I am sorry that I can’t talk about that because that case is under litigation,” Kennedy responded.
Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, asked Kennedy if he would support the ability to sell oral contraceptives over the counter. Kennedy said he would.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the first oral contraceptive over the counter in July 2023, but states can limit access.
Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., asked Kennedy about the administration’s decision to rescind a rule that required minimum staffing in nursing homes.
“Your agency rescinded a rule implementing a minimum staffing standard in nursing homes,” she said. “This rule would have saved lives, improved care and strengthened the nursing home workforce.”
Kennedy said the rule would have caused rural nursing homes to go out of business.
Kennedy is testifying before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee Tuesday afternoon.