CDC chief: Trump aides politically influenced some COVID-19 guidelines

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told the Washington Post on Monday that a “vast minority” of the agency’s COVID-19 pandemic response guidelines had been “politically influenced” by some staff appointed by the former President Trump.

Driving the news: Walensky said CDC senior deputy director Anne Schuchat was leading a review of the matter and the agency was updating relevant guidelines.

Between the 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 on mask-wearing guidelines and reopening. churches.

• In December, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (DS.C.), chairman of the oversight subcommittee to review the US response to the pandemic, accused then CDC chief Robert Redfield, for withholding evidence that a person named by Trump tried to influence the agency’s science record. studies.
• Politico reported in September that Trump-appointed health department aides interfered with the CDC’s weekly COVID-19 reports “in what officials called an attempt to intimidate the authors of the reports and dilute their communications with health professionals “.