Transcript: Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," April 19, 2026

Face The Nation Transcripts Transcript: Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," April 19, 2026 .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-face-the-nation.jpg'); } Updated on: April 19, 2026 / 12:44 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google The following is the transcript of the interview with first Trump administration surgeon general Dr. Jerome Adams that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on April 19, 2026.MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams, who joins us this morning from Indianapolis, good to have you back, doctor. The country has been without a Senate confirmed CDC director since Secretary Kennedy fired Dr. Monarez just a month into her term. But this past week, the president nominated Dr. Erica Schwartz to lead the CDC. I know she worked as your deputy surgeon general. Do you see this as a deliberate choice by the White House to pick someone who actually does support vaccines?DR. JEROME ADAMS: Well, absolutely. And again, we've talked in the past about the fact that the Fabrizio and Ward poll showed that Republicans were going to pay in the midterm elections if they continued on an anti-vaccine push. But I want to say Dr. Schwartz is a home run pick. She has an MD, a JD and an MPH and more than two decades of public service in the Coast Guard, where she was chief medical officer and in the Public Health Service, as you mentioned, which she retired from as a Rear Admiral, and it's why I personally selected her to be my deputy surgeon general.MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you have concerns that she will be able to, you know, conduct herself without political interference?DR. JEROME ADAMS: Well, it's a great, and it's a fair question, Margaret. I'd say she is objectively the most qualified health nominee we've seen from this administration so far, and I want to give the President and senior HHS adviser Chris Klomp credit for tapping he...