Rochelle Walensky, who has been nominated to serve as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks after U.S. President-elect Joe Biden announced his team tasked with fighting the Covid-19 pandemic at The Queen in Wilmington, Delaware on December 8. , 2020.
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images
Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who were sidelined by the Trump administration during the Covid-19 pandemic will be “heard again,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to head the bureau, Tuesday.
Last year, the CDC spoke for months without addressing the American audience after Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, warned in February that schools and businesses may need to close to contain the coronavirus.
“We ask the American public to work with us to prepare for the expectation that this could be bad,” Messonnier said in forward-looking remarks that made the markets shudder and reportedly annoyed President Donald Trump.
During the pandemic, Trump has continued to clash with the best scientists in the country, including current CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield, who publicly contradicts him on issues such as the Covid-19 vaccine timeline.
Walensky promised to restore the public voice of the CDC and its scientists.
“They’ve been reduced. I think they’ve been muzzled. That science hasn’t been heard,” she told Dr. Howard Bauchner to The Journal of the American Medical Association. “This top-notch agency, world-renowned, has not really been appreciated for the past four years and has been really striking in the past year, so I have to fix that.”
Walensky said she plans to renew the CDC’s communications efforts under the Biden administration. That could include regular briefings led by Walensky or subject matter experts to explain scientific research published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, she said. She added that it will likely also mean a more coordinated plan to engage the public on social media.
“Science is now being conveyed via Twitter. Science is being conveyed on social media, on podcasts and in many different ways, and I think that’s critical,” said Walensky. “We need a social media plan for the agency.”
She said strengthening the agency’s presence on social media will be especially important as the country combats hesitation about vaccines. Misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccines is widespread on social media, she said, adding that the agency must release “the correct information.”
The CDC’s communications have often been at odds with those of the White House over the past year. The agency revised guidelines for reopening churches and religious sites after Trump urged state officials to reopen houses of worship. And over the summer, Trump installed his longtime ally and former campaign officer Michael Caputo as a top spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC’s parenting arm, in an effort to better align the messages with the White House.
Caputo and his team sought to undermine CDC scientists by pressuring them to review scientific research that contradicted White House guidance, according to internal emails received from House lawmakers. Walensky said on Tuesday that she will ensure that the CDC communicates transparently with the American people regardless of the political fallout.
“I have to fix that right away,” she said.