Trump nominates ‘pro-vaccine’ candidate for CDC director… A U-turn on ‘vaccine skepticism’?

U.S. President Donald Trump nominated former Deputy Surgeon General Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the 16th (local time).

President Trump said on the social media site Truth Social that day: “탁월한 역량을 갖춘 에리카 슈워츠 박사를 CDC 국장으로 지명하게 돼 영광으로 생각한다”as “그녀는 스타”He said.

Nominee Schwartz graduated from Brown University’s undergraduate and medical school, served as a surgeon general in the U.S. Army, and served as deputy surgeon general in the first Trump administration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he participated in the federal government response and contributed to public health policy.

The New York Times reported that nominee Schwartz is a pro-vaccination advocate and has publicly supported vaccines and preventive medicine.

Previously, former CDC Director Susan Monarez was fired at the end of August last year, less than a month after taking office, due to a policy conflict with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., who doubted the efficacy of vaccines. This nomination comes about eight months since then.

So far, the CDC director has been operated under a temporary system without an official designation, with Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill and National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya concurrently serving as acting director.

The CDC director must be confirmed by the Senate before being officially appointed.

The NYT analyzed this nomination as a strong signal that the Trump administration is moving away from the ‘vaccine skepticism’ led by Secretary Kennedy ahead of the midterm elections in November.

As vaccine policy is directly related to the votes of voters, especially those with children, there are also observations that this appointment reflects political considerations ahead of the midterm elections.

Secretary Kennedy has publicly expressed his distrust of vaccines.

He maintained his position that the mRNA (mesenchymal ribonucleic acid) vaccine, which is closely related to the coronavirus vaccine, is harmful, and that guidelines regarding masks and social distancing implemented during the coronavirus pandemic were also implemented. “비상식적” It has been claimed that it was policy.

Former CDC Director Monarez was fired for insisting on the need for vaccines against Secretary Kennedy, who pushed ahead with cuts to vaccine research and disbandment of advisory committees.

Last month, the U.S. court put the brakes on changes to the vaccination policy of the Donald Trump administration, which recommended suspending some vaccines for children.

The U.S. federal court in Massachusetts accepted the plaintiff’s request in a lawsuit filed by six medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, asking the CDC to stop implementing the reduced list of vaccination recommendations for children and decided to suspend the revised vaccine list.

On this day, President Trump nominated Sean Slovensky, a senior Walmart executive, as CDC deputy director and chief operating officer (COO), Texas State Health Commissioner Jennifer Shuford as CDC deputy director and chief medical officer (CMO), and former acting Food and Drug Administration (FDA) director Sarah Brenner as senior public health advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.