Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Acknowledging CDC Angst, Schwartz Seeks To Assure Staff They Can Work As 'One Team'
The new director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told agency employees that she wants them to feel safe and not fear retributions for honest conversations, according to a recording of the meeting heard by Bloomberg News. “I’m so sorry that you have to live under this extreme psychological unsafety,” Director Erica Schwartz said in her first address to the entire staff since starting as director. (Nix, 8/19)
The new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Erica Schwartz, said Wednesday the agency is prepared to handle a variety of disease outbreaks, despite internal concerns about drastic cuts to CDC staffing and programs. Schwartz made the remarks in an internal meeting with CDC staff members. NBC News reviewed a transcript of the agencywide meeting, Schwartz’s first since she took the helm of the agency this month. (Edwards, 8/19)
On FDA leadership —
President Donald Trump nominated White House policy aide Heidi Overton to lead the Food and Drug Administration after a turbulent year at the agency marked by high-profile staff exits and industry complaints. Trump announced the selection in a social media post, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. He said she would work to speed up new treatments, boost US innovation and reform clinical trials. (Zhang and Griffin, 8/18)
The chairman of the Senate health committee on Wednesday expressed “strong concerns” about President Trump’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration, criticizing her support of what he called a “nonsensical vaccine executive order” issued last week. “That alone is almost disqualifying,” the chairman, Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, wrote on social media. (Stolberg, 8/19)
Heidi Overton’s years of loyalty to Donald Trump helped her become his pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration, one of the government’s most powerful regulatory agencies. But that devotion could ruin her chances at Senate confirmation. As Trump’s deputy assistant for domestic policy, Overton, a physician, has helped bring Trump’s health policies to fruition, most recently helping shepherd an executive order last week that spelled out Trump’s plan to reduce the number of recommended vaccines for children. (Gardner, Lim, Ollstein and Haslett, 8/19)
