RFK Jr. Should Get on Board With the White House
He’s the biggest obstacle.
Photographer: Heather Diehl/Getty Images
The White House has nominated Erica Schwartz, a strikingly conventional candidate, to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Schwartz, formerly a deputy US surgeon general, is a lawyer and medical doctor by training. She’s by most accounts a decent choice. If confirmed, she’ll face three big challenges.
The first is a likely confrontation with her boss, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In recent congressional hearings, Kennedy offered conflicting testimony about the degree of independence Schwartz would have as director. Reports that current CDC leadership refused to publish a study showing the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccine thus raise legitimate concerns.