The Senate health committee on Thursday advanced the nomination of Dr. Erica Schwartz, President Trump’s pick for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for a full Senate vote.
The committee’s Republican members and Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, all voted in favor of her candidacy, with the remaining Democrats opposed.
Dr. Schwartz is Mr. Trump’s third nominee in less than two years to lead the C.D.C. A deputy surgeon general in the first Trump administration, she has publicly supported childhood vaccines, and was viewed as a highly qualified, mainstream choice.
But at her hearing two weeks ago, Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician and Republican of Louisiana, and several Democratic members expressed serious qualms about her willingness and ability to push back against Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s policies.
“We need a C.D.C. director that will actually stand up to crazy, stupid things being said that undermine faith in immunization,” Mr. Cassidy, the health committee chair, said during the hearing, adding that it was “evil” to promote misinformation about vaccines.
“Are you that person?” he asked Dr. Schwartz.
Mr. Cassidy later said he would support her nomination after a page on the C.D.C.’s website about vaccines and autism was modified to address his objections.
The committee’s vote on Dr. Schwartz was scheduled for last week, but it was delayed because not enough members were present at the time.
The committee on Thursday also voted to advance the nomination of Sean Kaufman for assistant secretary for preparedness and response, a role that includes oversight of emergency measures during public health crises.
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