Rochelle Walensky, who has been nominated to serve as director of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, is speaking after US President-elect Joe Biden announced his team that will launch the Covid-19 pandemic in The Queen in Wilmington on December 8, Delaware, had to deal with. , 2020.
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Scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who were killed by the Trump administration during the Covid-19 pandemic will be ‘heard’ again, “said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the electing president, Joe Biden, decided to lead the agency, said Tuesday.
Last year, the CDC passed months without addressing the American public after Dr Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, warned in February that schools and businesses may have to close to contain the coronavirus.
“We ask the American public to join us in preparing for the expectation that it could be bad,” Messonnier said in preliminary remarks that shook markets and pres. Donald Trump reportedly.
During the pandemic, Trump continued to clash with the country’s leading scientists, including the current CDC director, dr. Robert Redfield, who publicly contradicts himself on issues such as the Covid-19 vaccination timeline.
Walensky has vowed to restore the public voice of the CDC and its scientists.
“They have been reduced. I think they are muzzled. “Science has not been heard yet,” she told The Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday. Howard Bauchner, said. “This top agency, world famous, has not been really appreciated over the last four years and really significantly over the past year, so I have to correct that.”
Walensky said she plans to revamp the CDC’s communications efforts under the Biden government. This may include regular information sessions led by Walensky or experts to explain scientific research that appears in the CDC’s weekly report on morbidity and mortality. She added that it would probably also mean a more concrete plan to engage the public on social media.
“Science is now being communicated via Twitter. Science is being communicated on social media, on podcasts and in many different ways, and I think that is critical,” Walensky said. “We need to have a social media plan for the agency.”
She said strengthening the agency’s presence on social media would be particularly important as the country hesitated about the vaccine. Incorrect information about the Covid-19 vaccines is common on social media, she said, adding that the agency needs to get ‘the right information’.
In recent years, the CDC’s communications have often been at odds with those of the White House. The agency has reviewed clues over the reopening of churches and religious sites after Trump urged government officials to reopen the worship services. And over the summer, Trump installed a longtime ally and former campaign official, Michael Caputo, as top spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC’s parent division, in an effort to better connect the messages to the White House. .
Caputo and his team tried to undermine CDC scientists and put them under pressure to review scientific research driven by the White House, according to internal emails obtained by lawmakers from the House. Walensky said Tuesday she will ensure the CDC communicates transparently with the American people, regardless of the political consequences.
“I have to fix this right away,” she said.