WASHINGTON, July 15 (Reuters) - Erica Schwartz, President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the U.S. CDC, repeatedly declined on Wednesday to say whether she would defy Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on vaccines, frustrating senators weighing whether the embattled agency can secure stable, independent leadership after months of turmoil.
Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and physician who chairs the Senate health committee, repeatedly pressed Schwartz on whether she would exert full control over the agency and stand up to Kennedy, including removing officials seeking to link vaccines to autism.
Schwartz declined to answer directly. As Cassidy kept pressing, she said only that she would never "compromise on" or "betray" science, adding that Kennedy will allow her to exercise her authority. "The secretary will absolutely allow me to be CDC director," she said.
"We need a CDC director that will actually stand up to crazy, stupid things being said that undermine faith in immunization," Cassidy said.
Cassidy, who opened the hearing saying he could not support any nominee who equivocated on vaccine facts, appeared unsatisfied. He told Schwartz at the end of the hearing she seemed "way overprepped" and had been "always trying not to answer my questions," which he called "disappointing."
Under questioning from ranking member Bernie Sanders, Schwartz said she accepted the evidence that vaccines do not cause autism but would not commit to removing content on the CDC website suggesting such a link, saying only that she would review it and speak with Kennedy.
Schwartz, Trump's first-term deputy surgeon general, said her first priority would be restoring trust "through radical transparency and unwavering scientific integrity." She aligned herself with Kennedy's broader agenda, telling Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville she was "all in on the Make America Healthy Again agenda."
Cassidy, who has opposed Kennedy's vaccine overhaul, said vaccines are "overwhelmingly safe and effective" and that studies show they do not cause autism. He said the CDC website should reflect the best science "rather than the preferences of political appointees."
Asked whether she would have advised against rolling back the military's flu vaccine mandate, a move followed by an outbreak at a Texas air base that prompted the Pentagon to restore it, Schwartz demurred, declining to comment on hypotheticals.
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