I’ll make sure the voices of science are heard again

One of the first priorities of the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is to ensure that scientists, public health experts and agency staff are “heard again.”

In an interview Tuesday with JAMA editor Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the choice of President-elect Joe Biden to lead the CDC said will depend largely on the nearly 10,000 employees of the mammoth public health agency, including many who said they have been unable to speak out about the Covid-19 pandemic under the Trump administration. Biden will be sworn in as president on Wednesday when Walensky officially receives aid from the CDC.

“I think they have decreased. I think they muzzled them, ”Walensky told JAMA editor Dr. Howard Bauchner during the interview, which was live Tuesday afternoon. “Science has not been listened to. I have to fix that. . . and make sure those voices are heard again. “

Walensky, who has been the chief of the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Division of Infectious Diseases, is a leading HIV researcher and has vowed to be a more transparent public face for the CDC, which has been the target of political interference during the pandemic.

Fortunately, however, Walensky said the good news is that the CDC’s talent is still there. “There has not been a mass exodus,” he said.

Among his charges, he told Bauchner, will be improving CDC communication, particularly as Covid-19 vaccines are released to the general public in the United States.

“As we talk about vaccinating against vaccines and anti-vaccines,” Walensky said the CDC should be able to combat that with an effective communication plan.

Walensky said he needs to fix CDC’s internal and external communications.

“The correct information has not been released,” Walensky said. “I want (CDC staff) everyone to be able to speak. I want to make sure science is heard. We have to have a social media plan for the agency. “