President Trump has announced his third nominee for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Dr. Erica Schwartz, a well-qualified former public health official and board-certified physician in preventive medicine who has publicly supported vaccination.

The nomination comes amid concern within the administration that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s aggressive anti-vaccine agenda—lacking medical or scientific background—has become a liability as the party heads into midterms.

Dr. Schwartz, with a medical degree from Brown University and experience in public health, was previously deputy surgeon general during Trump’s first term and served as Chief Medical Officer with the US Coast Guard. Her nomination has been met with praise by outside experts for her qualifications but with caution given Kennedy's influence at the CDC.

During the pandemic, Dr. Schwartz played a key role in federal vaccine rollouts. On social media, she championed vaccines as part of preventive health: “My job was all about readiness; it was all about public health: prevention, vaccines, early detection.”

How her evidence-based approach will navigate Kennedy's anti-vaccine efforts remains to be seen.