CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told the Washington Post on Monday that “a large minority” of the agency’s COVID-19 guidelines for pandemic responses were “politically influenced” by a number of staff appointed by former President Trump.
Driving the news: Walensky said Anne Schuchat, chief executive of the CDC, was leading an investigation into the case and the agency was updating the relevant guidelines.
Between the lines: While Walensky did not cite specific examples in her interview, the Post notes that CDC officials had previously complained of political interference from the Trump administration over guidelines for the wearing of masks and the reopening of churches.
- In December, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (DS.C.), the chair of the oversight subcommittee charged with investigating the U.S. pandemic response, accused then-CDC chief Robert Redfield of hiding evidence that a Trump appointee was attempting the scientific case of the agency to influence studies.
- Politico reported in September that Trump-appointed health officials were interfering with the CDC’s weekly COVID-19 reports “in what officials characterized as an attempt to intimidate the authors of the reports and downplay their communications with health workers.”