Not all of the coronavirus guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the Trump administration were based on the best scientific evidence or even written primarily by the agency’s staff, according to a review by the new director of the CDC.
The review was aimed at ensuring that the CDC’s current and primary COVID-19 leadership contained the most up-to-date information and was ‘evidence-based and free from politics’, according to a summary dated to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and dated March 10th.
“I am committed to moving the CDC forward with science, transparency and clarity,” Walensky said in a statement on Monday. “It is essential that the American people trust the CDC. If this is not the case, preventable diseases and injuries can occur – and tragically lives can and will be lost. ”
Alex Wong via Getty Images President Donald Trump was to be seen at a press conference in February 2020 at the time. A review by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that not all coronavirus guidelines issued by the department during the Trump administration were written primarily by the agency’s staff.
The review concluded that some of the CDC’s guidance was not primarily written by Federal Health Agency staff, that it offered rather than direct recommendations based on existing evidence, and that some of the information was outdated. or that scientific understanding has not developed.
In the investigation, three documents on the website were misleadingly presented as CDC documents.
One of the documents, ‘The Importance of Reopening of America’s Schools this Fall’, was posted on the CDC’s website in July and quietly removed in October. The removal follows reports that White House officials have relentlessly put pressure on the CDC to reduce the risk of sending children back to school.
“The reopening of schools provides an opportunity to invest in the education, well-being and future of one of America’s greatest assets – our children – while taking every precaution to protect students, teachers, staff and all their families,” the statement said. article. Its author is not listed.
Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, appointed by President Joe Biden, has ordered a review of the Coronavirus health guidelines released during the Trump administration.
Another document, “Review of testing for SARS-COV-2”, was posted in August and replaced in September. A third document, “Opening up America Again”, was released in April by a link posted on the CDC’s website, and was removed in February during the CDC’s review.
Earlier it was reported that White House officials in the Trump administration had put pressure on the CDC to amend its COVID-19 information in ways that would reflect well on then-President Donald Trump. It has also been reported that Trump’s staff have made efforts to release or stop CDC reports altogether.
Olivia Troye, who served as adviser to Vice President Mike Pence for two years before resigning in August last year, said she had been repeatedly asked by Pence chief of staff Marc Short to pressure the CDC to produce more reports. shows a decrease in COVID. -19 cases among young people.
After her resignation, she told The New York Times that she regretted being “complicit” in such efforts.
‘You influence people’s lives for whatever political agenda. “You exchange votes for lives, and I have a serious problem with that,” she said.
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