Not all coronavirus health guidelines released 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 commissioned by the agency. the new director of the CDC.
The review was designed to ensure that the CDC’s current and primary COVID-19 guideline contains the most current information and is “evidence-based and free from politics,” according to a summary delivered March 10 to CDC Director Rochelle. Walensky was offered.
“I’m focused on moving CDC forward with science, transparency and clarity at the forefront,” Walensky said in a statement Monday. “It is imperative that the American people trust CDC. If they don’t, illnesses and injuries can occur – and, tragically, lives can and will be lost. ”
Alex Wong via Getty Images Then-President Donald Trump is seen as a speaker at a press conference in February 2020. 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 primarily written by staff at the desk.
The review concluded that some of the CDC’s guidelines were not primarily drawn up by federal health service personnel, that it offered considerations rather than direct recommendations based on existing evidence, and that some of the information was outdated. was or no evolving scientific understanding was lacking.
The review specified three documents that were misleadingly presented as CDC documents on its website.
One of the documents, “The Importance of Reopening of America’s Schools this Fall,” was posted to the CDC’s website in July and quietly removed in October. The removal followed reports that White House officials had been relentlessly pressuring the CDC to reduce the risk of sending children back to school.
“Reopening schools provides opportunities to invest in the education, wellbeing and future of one of America’s greatest assets – our children – while taking every precaution to protect students, teachers, staff and all their families,” read it article. The author is not mentioned.
Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, ordered a revision 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 through a link on the CDC’s site in April and removed in February during the CDC’s review.
It was previously reported that White House officials within the Trump administration had pressured the CDC to change its COVID-19 information in a way that would reflect well on then-President Donald Trump. There were also attempts by Trump staff to delay or stop the release of CDC reports altogether.
Olivia Troye, who served as an advisor to Vice President Mike Pence for two years before resigning last August, has said she was repeatedly asked by Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, to put pressure on the CDC to produce more reports. that showed a decrease in COVID. -19 cases among young people.
After stepping down, she told The New York Times that she regretted being “ complicit ” in such attempts.
‘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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