White House nominee for CDC director advances to full Senate vote
By Sarah Owermohle, CNN
(CNN) — Two nominees to lead public health at the Health and Human Services Department cleared a committee vote Thursday, moving them closer to being confirmed into the roles after extended talks between federal officials and senators about vaccine misinformation.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said Thursday morning that he will support the nominations of Dr. Erica Schwartz to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Sean Kaufman, nominee to lead the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. He said his decision came after multiple conversations with top HHS officials about removing claims about vaccines and autism from the CDC website, and making personnel changes at the agency.
HHS last week edited a claim on that website — saying there is not evidence that vaccines do not cause autism — in an apparent bid to assure the nominees would get through a committee vote. Cassidy said Thursday morning that discussions about the website are not over.
“While there have been changes to the CDC website, any assertion that there is a link between autism and vaccines is wrong. We don’t know what causes autism, but study after study shows that it is not vaccines,” he said. “The administration is committed to continuing the work to remove vaccine misinformation from that website. This is something, again, that I’ll pay close attention to as HHS nominees move through the confirmation process.”
Cassidy had previously raised concerns about Schwartz’s independence and autonomy to lead CDC following her predecessor’s ouster. He also raised Kaufman’s past remarks questioning the safety and effectiveness of immunizations including mRNA vaccines.
“Mr. Kaufman has said some pretty stupid things, and really harmful things, regarding immunization. He has owned up to that in his conversations with me. I am assured that if he is confirmed, he will not be involved in vaccine policy, and nor will he be the ultimate decision maker on certain issues like mRNA because of his past statements,” Cassidy said Thursday.
“You sometimes don’t get the nominee that you’d like to have, but you get a nominee that you have to have,” Cassidy added in reference to Kaufman.
All Republicans on the committee and Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, voted for Schwartz’s nomination. Committee members voted along party lines on Kaufman’s nomination.
It is unlikely that the full Senate will vote to confirm either nominee ahead of August recess, raising the prospect that the two will not be confirmed before September.
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