The Senate Health Committee voted along party lines Wednesday to advance President Trump’s nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The panel voted 12-11 to advance the nomination of Susan Monarez to be the next CDC director.

The Senate health committee voted on partisan lines Wednesday morning to approve President Donald Trump’s nominee for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director, Susan Monarez, advancing her to a vote in the full Senate.

The committee vote was a first, as the position of CDC director didn’t need confirmation until the requirement was added in the 2023 omnibus. Monarez was seen as a less controversial pick after the Trump administration pulled the nomination of former Rep.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it has ended its emergency response to H5N1 bird flu, citing a drop in cases.

Doctors and researchers said the moves will make it harder to detect potentially dangerous changes. If the virus continues to jump between species or the human case count grows, there’s a greater risk that it could mutate and become more easily transmissible between people,

The CDC ends its emergency response to H5N1 bird flu after recording 70 human cases and one death nationally, even as experts note seasonal patterns may increase fall cases.