CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told the Washington Post on Monday that “a large minority” of the agency’s COVID-19 pandemic response guidelines had been “politically influenced” by some officials appointed by former President Trump. .
Driving the news: Walensky said CDC deputy director Anne Schuchat was leading a review of the issue and the agency was updating the affected guidelines.
Between lines: Although Walensky did not cite specific examples in his interview, the Post notes that CDC officials had previously complained about the Trump administration’s political interference in the guidelines on the use of masks and the reopening of churches.
- In December, House Whip Jim Clyburn (DS.C.), chairman of the oversight subcommittee tasked with examining the response to the U.S. pandemic, accused then-CDC chief Robert Redfield of hide evidence that a Trump nominee tried to influence the agency’s scientific case. studies.
- Politician reported in September that Trump-designated health department aides interfered with the weekly reports of the CDV COVID-19 “in what officials characterized as an attempt to intimidate the authors of the reports and water down their communications to the health professionals “.