Senator Bill Cassidy said he would support Dr Erica Schwartz’s nomination to lead the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after the Department of Health and Human Services altered a CDC webpage on autism and vaccines. His backing improves Schwartz’s prospects of Senate confirmation and highlights continuing concerns about whether the CDC can operate independently of Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. on vaccine policy.

Cassidy had initially pressed Schwartz over whether she would resist political pressure and uphold scientific evidence that vaccines do not cause autism. The CDC had added language last November questioning that conclusion; the revised page now says scientists have not identified autism’s root causes and that HHS will update it as reliable evidence emerges. A committee vote on Schwartz was postponed because of attendance issues, while support for another health nominee, Sean Kaufman, remained uncertain.