Rochelle Walensky, who has been appointed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks after US President-elect Joe Biden announced his team to handle the Covid-19 pandemic at The Queen in Wilmington, Delaware, December 8, 2020.
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images
Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who were ousted by the Trump administration during the Covid-19 pandemic will “be heard again,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, President-elect Joe Biden’s election to lead the agency, said Tuesday.
Last year, the CDC spent months without addressing the U.S. public after Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, warned in February that schools and companies may have to close to contain the coronavirus.
“We call on the American public to work with us to prepare for the expectation that this could be bad,” Messonnier said in early remarks that made markets spin and upset President Donald Trump.
Throughout the pandemic, Trump continued to clash with the nation’s top scientists, including current CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield, publicly contradicting him on issues such as the Covid-19 vaccine schedule.
Walensky promised to restore the public voice of the CDC and its scientists.
“They were diminished. I think they were stupid. That science has not been heard,” Dr. Howard Bauchner told The Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday. “This top, world-renowned agency has not been appreciated in the last four years and even significantly in the last year, so I have to fix that.”
Walensky said he intends to renew the CDC’s communications efforts under the Biden administration. This could include regular information led by Walensky or experts in the field to explain the scientific research published in the CDC’s weekly report Morbidity and Mortality Weekly, she said. She added that it will probably mean a more concerted plan to engage the public on social media.
“Science is being broadcast now on Twitter. Science is being broadcast on social media, on podcasts and in many different ways, and I think it’s essential,” Walensky said. “We need to have a social media plan for the agency.”
She said strengthening the agency’s presence on social media will be particularly important as the country fights the vaccine’s hesitation. Disinformation about Covid-19 vaccines is spreading on social networks, she said, adding that the agency must obtain “the right information.”
In the past year, communications from the CDC have often contradicted those from the White House. The agency revised guidelines on reopening churches and places of worship after Trump asked state officials to allow the reopening of houses of worship. And over the summer, Trump installed longtime ally and former campaign official Michael Caputo as a senior spokesman for the CDC’s Department of Health and Human Services in an effort to better align messages with the White House.
Caputo and his team tried to undermine CDC scientists, urging them to review scientific research that led to White House guidance, according to internal e-mails obtained by House lawmakers. Walensky said Tuesday that he will ensure that the CDC communicates transparently with the American people, regardless of the political consequences.
“I have to fix it right away,” she said.