According to Axios, the Senate on Wednesday confirmed Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a 51-44 vote, giving the agency its first full-time political leader in almost a year. Schwartz, a physician who worked at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the first Trump administration, won support from all Republicans present and just one Democrat, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia. Senate health committee Chair Bill Cassidy, who had previously been skeptical, said he backed Schwartz after getting assurances that she "knows what she is doing and will stand against those who do not." Schwartz faced questions at her July 15 confirmation hearing over whether she could work with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and said she would rebuild trust in the CDC, though she declined to say whether she would tell Congress if pressured to adopt "unscientific" or harmful policies. Axios also reported that the Senate has not yet scheduled a vote on Sean Kaufman’s nomination to be HHS assistant health secretary for preparedness and response, and that Kaufman is expected to be confirmed despite questions about past anti-vaccine statements.