Senate confirms Erica Schwartz as CDC director

By August 5, 2026 / 3:43 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, giving the CDC its first official director in nearly a year. Schwartz was confirmed Wednesday by a vote of 51 to 44. The CDC has been without a Senate-confirmed director since late August 2025, when former director Susan Monarez was ousted just 29 days into the job. National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya had also been serving as acting CDC director since February.Schwartz, a retired Navy rear admiral, is a former deputy surgeon general with extensive experience overseeing the U.S. Coast Guard's health care system. She holds a bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering from Brown University, an