Cassidy, Senate Democrats grill Trump health nominees over vaccine pressures

Skip to content

Two of President Trump’s most recent health nominees, including his newest pick to be head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), appeared before the Senate on Wednesday where a reluctance to break with the administration put Democrats and some Republicans on edge.

Erica Schwartz, nominee to be the next director of the CDC, and Sean Kaufman, nominee to head the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), both appeared before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), where key lawmakers sought out reassurances that both nominees would be able to resist political interference if confirmed.

As a longtime physician and former Deputy Surgeon General under the first Trump administration, Schwartz represented a more mainstream pick to head the CDC. The agency has gone without steady leadership throughout Trump’s second term, with his second choice, veteran government scientist Susan Monarez, being pushed out of the role less than a month after she was confirmed.

Kaufman, currently a senior adviser for global affairs at the CDC, spent a significant portion of his testimony defending or clarifying past remarks critical of vaccine policy.

With infectious disease concerns abounding domestically and cases of measles and cyclosporiasis continuing to spread across the country, lawmakers are anxious to get solid leadership into place at the CDC and ASPR. But issues that cast doubt on previous Trump health nominees came up once again on Wednesday.

Cassidy left wanting

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chair of the Senate HELP Committee, made his reservations clear throughout the hearing Wednesday, at various points expressing disappointment and ire with the answers he got from both Schwartz and Kaufman.

Having lost his reelection bid in May, Cassidy was unrestrained from pressures to appease the administration. He made it clear at the start of the hearing that he wanted nominees who could rebuild trust in public health.

Given that Monarez claimed she was fired as CDC director for refusing to grant carte blanche approval to vaccine policy changes without seeing the evidence, Cassidy questioned whether Schwartz would stand up to the administration over policies that she believed would be wrong for public health.

“The one thing that I can tell you is how I lead and how I live, and I have lived and I have led by my integrity,” Schwartz told Cassidy. “I have spent over 25 years in the uniformed services, leading by integrity. That is what I can commit to you and to the committee. That I will continue to live and lead by my integrity. You are a physician. I’m a physician. We both took the Hippocratic Oath. For me, the Hippocratic Oath meant that I would never harm my patients, their health and wellbeing took primacy.”

Cassidy sought assurance that Schwartz, if confirmed, would retain control over staffing at CDC, a question that Schwartz wavered over. After several rounds of back-and-forth, the senator said he felt he was “having to go after this question a little bit more firmly than I feel like I should.”

While Schwartz reiterated she would lead with integrity and “never compromise on the science,” Cassidy said her responses were “not quite the direct answer I’m hoping for.” Schwartz said she had pushed back against her superiors in the past, including when she worked for the U.S. Coast Guard.

In his final remarks to Schwartz, Cassidy said, “We spoke as two doctors, and here I spoke as I felt like you were always trying not to answer my question, which was disappointing.”

Cassidy, a strong proponent of immunizations, including the hepatitis B vaccine in particular, took issue with Kaufman’s past social media post that questioned the need for the hepatitis B infant dose.

In a since-deleted LinkedIn post, Kaufman wrote, “Most parents aren’t letting their babies run around practicing high-risk sexual behaviors or sharing needles. So, what’s the rush? Why is this standard practice in the U.S.?”

Cassidy derided Kaufman’s writing as “either uninformed or deliberately misleading,” slamming his hand on the dais and half-shouting, “Why would you repeat those damn lies?”

Kaufman insisted to Cassidy that he was a believer in vaccines and that he was not trying to link immunizations to autism or allergies, adding that all three of his children had received a birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.

Democrats unmoved

Democrats on the committee sought to determine whether Schwartz would have enough “backbone” to stand up to the administration if needed, seemingly looking for a director who would be unyielding like Monarez.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), ranking member on the HELP Committee, similarly sought to find out whether the nominees would stand up to President Trump and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if needed. He asked Schwartz if she would tell Congress if the administration asked her to implement policies that were “unscientific and could harm the health and wellbeing of the American people.”

“I do not believe that the president or the secretary would ever do what you just mentioned,” Schwartz responded.

Following up on this line of questioning, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) noted that Monarez had made similar statements during her confirmation hearing, saying she believed Trump would never ask her to break the law.

Kaine said he voted against Monarez at the time because he believed she hadn’t demonstrated enough “backbone,” something he apologized for after she was fired.

“Your answer was almost exactly the same as hers. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever get asked to do such a thing,’” Kaine said.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said their questions were not hypothetical given what Monarez had told senators last year and asked Schwartz if should defy Kennedy if necessary.

Schwartz avoided directly responding to Murray, saying, “I will follow the science wherever it leads, Senator. You have my commitment on that.”

Infectious diseases hang heavy over hearing

Members of the committee emphasized the need for strong leadership at both the CDC and ASPR due to the spread of measles and cyclosporiasis domestically, as well as the massive Ebola outbreak in Africa.

Murray asked Schwartz if she believed there was a scientific or medical justification for the CDC removing cyclosporiasis from its mandatory reporting program last year.

Schwartz said she was unaware of its removal but would look into it if confirmed.

Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) asked Schwartz for her thoughts on the administration’s vaccine policies, including what she characterized as a lack of outreach when it came to measles vaccinations as well as the push to reduce the childhood immunization schedule.

Schwartz told the senator that she would encourage measles vaccinations and would also examine whether changing the childhood immunization schedule, modeling it after Denmark’s, made sense.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), one of the other physicians on the HELP Committee, asked Kaufman how he would handle another potential epidemic, including if he would commit to giving Americans access to “whatever vaccine that you deem safe and worthy.”

After some back-and-forth, Kaufman said, “Absolutely, 100 percent.”

Tags

Bernie Sanders

Bill Cassidy

Donald Trump

Lisa Blunt Rochester

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Roger Marshall

Tim Kaine

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.