US Senate panel backs Trump’s CDC nominee after tense hearing

Dr. Erica Schwartz's nomination to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advanced to the Senate floor after a 13-10 vote by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The confirmation hearing included questions about potential political interference in vaccine policy, with committee chair Sen. Bill Cassidy expressing initial dissatisfaction but later supporting her nomination. Schwartz, a former U.S. Navy physician and deputy surgeon general, would oversee the CDC amid controversies involving HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine-skeptical agenda.