LEXINGTON, Ky. — President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will nominate Dr. Erica Schwartz to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, filling a seat vacant for months after the previous director said she was ousted over disagreements regarding childhood vaccines. Trump annou nced the nomination on his Truth Social platform, touting Schwartz’s medical background and military service. “She is a STAR!” the president wrote. Schwartz served as deputy U.S. surgeon general during Trump’s first term and previously worked as a rear admiral in the U.S. Coast Guard, where she directed health, safety and work life initiatives. She holds a medical degree from Brown University and a law degree from the University of Maryland. Schwartz takes over an agency that has experienced significant turmoil during Trump’s second term. The CDC has been without a permanent director since August, when former director Susan Monarez was ousted after just 29 days. Monarez told Senate lawmakers under oath that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired her for refusing to pre-approve changes to the childhood vaccine schedule and for declining to terminate agency scientists without cause. Trump also announced supporting appointments: Sean Slovenski as CDC Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Jennifer Shuford as Deputy Director and Chief Medical Officer, and Dr. Sara Brenner as Senior Counselor for Public Health to Kennedy. Trump said the team would “restore the GOLD STANDARD OF SCIENCE at the CDC,” which he described as “an absolute disaster” under the previous administration. The appointments come as the CDC grapples with controversial vaccine policy changes under Kennedy. In January, the CDC reduced routine childhood vaccine recommendations from 17 diseases to 11, removing universal recommendations for rotavirus, meningitis, hepatitis A and B, influenza, COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus. A federal judge blocked many of these changes in March, ruling the CDC exceeded its authority by bypassing the proper advisory process. The ruling also found that most members Kennedy appointed to the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel were “distinctly unqualified,” with only six of 15 members having meaningful vaccine expertise. Kentucky has been affected by declining vaccination rates, with only 82% of kindergarten students fully caught up on required vaccines for the 2024-25 school year, trailing the national rate. The state has seen a growing share of vaccine objections based on religious grounds. Kentucky has reported 385 confirmed cases of whooping cough in 2025. The Kentucky Department for Public Health has reaffirmed its commitment to evidence-based childhood immunization, noting that recent federal changes do not alter the scientific support for vaccines, and continues recommending that healthcare providers follow guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics. This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from Kentucky Lantern, enriched with 3 web searches. The original source is available at https://kentuckylantern.com/2026/04/16/repub/trump-picks-new-director-for-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention/. The post Trump nominates ex-deputy surgeon general for CDC director appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less