ICYMI, New York Times Magazine interviewed forty-three current and former C.D.C. employees on the changes at the Trump-RFK Jr. CDC that “they say are replacing science with ideology — and making Americans more vulnerable.”
Reaction from Kayla Hancock, Director of Protect Our Care’s Public Health Project: “When those who know the CDC best are the most alarmed about the state it’s in, it’s terrifying to think how ill-prepared RFK Jr. is for the next public health crisis.”
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE NYT INTERVIEWS:
- “You would never have seen that before: statements based on an association found in a review paper that would lead to regulatory change without following any of the regulatory processes. I’ve never seen an agency that is responsible for the health of 340 million Americans be so willy-nilly.” — Daniel Jernigan, former director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases
- ‘I’m an E.R. doc, so I handle stress pretty well. But this was like being in a mass disaster nonstop for eight months.’ — Debra Houry, former chief medical officer
- ‘I don’t think it is well understood that we’re not going to see the outcomes of all of this until Trump is long gone.’ — Abby Tighe, former public health adviser, overdose prevention
- ‘I didn’t want to be part of any machine that they were going to use to spread false information about vaccines or to take vaccines away.’ — Fiona Havers, former medical epidemiologist, respiratory viruses
- ‘We thought that because Secretary Kennedy wanted to focus on chronic illness, the Office on Smoking and Health would be untouched. But they got rid of it completely.’ — Aryn Melton Backus, former communications specialist, smoking and health
- “We had a very stringent scientific process for vetting information that would get published on the C.D.C. website. Everything was checked and double-checked. And for political appointees to take over the means of communication is devastating, and also dangerous. Now, some things are correct and some are not, which means that you can’t trust any of it. People can now point to the C.D.C. website when spreading false information. And we all worry that by co-opting the C.D.C. webpage, R.F.K. will ultimately pollute the algorithms that guide people online now. A.I. might not be able to sort the evidence-based stuff from the trash.” — Susan A. Wang, former senior medical adviser in the global immunization division
- “They didn’t go through any of the standard processes. They didn’t look at the data. They just decided, based on vibes, that this vaccine shouldn’t be given to young children.” — Demetre C. Daskalakis, former director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases
- “We heard that when they first broached this broader schedule change in December, their legal and political advisers told them not to do it. They canceled a press conference, and for a minute it looked like maybe they would back off. But right after the holidays, they did it anyway. In retrospect, it should have been clear to everyone that after they succeeded in changing flu, Covid, M.M.R.V. and hepatitis B recommendations, they would come for the rest of the schedule.” — Fiona Havers, former medical epidemiologist in the respiratory viruses division
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