In His first address to staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield called the Atlanta-based agency “the world’s best science-based, data-driven agency.”
His voice broke down repeatedly as he tried unsuccessfully to hold back the tears, Redfield – appointed CDC director in March 2018 – told thousands of employees that he dreamed of leading a reputable organization that is a gold-standard for the surrounding public health agencies. Globe. He made them a solemn vow.
“I promise you that I will work to continue this legacy,” said Redfield, a virologist and physician who specializes in caring for people living with HIV. “We are not an opinion body. We are a science based, data based organization. That’s why the CDC has the worldwide credibility it has. ”
Advertising
Now, after 2/2 years of its tenure, or historically low, current and former CDC insiders have weakened the morale of its staff at the AT historic low and raised its staff morale to the historic low. Many say Redfield is not doing enough to protect the CDC’s reputation and the integrity of its work, and that it is successfully failing to prevent political interference that is undermining Americans’ trust in the organization.
Richard Besser, former CDC executive director and chairman of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said: “I don’t think CDC directors have been able to come up with clear political interference in the interpretation of science.
Advertising
Former CDC staff, many of whom exchange anxious emails over the state of the agency, are deeply shocked by the news, but are wary of speaking out. A former official said current staff are at loggerheads over what to do. “Even if you got a dozen resignations at the same time, it’s a one-day story,” the former official said.
Others were willing to speak in public.
“I believe [Redfield]It doesn’t show the kind of leadership I hope for in the organization’s defense and in the defense of science, “said Mark Rosenberg, who was the first director of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
“It takes 75 years to build a reputation and it can be destroyed in four months. It’s horrible, “said Rosenberg, who is now retired but in contact with former colleagues.
CDC Public health experts who have led the country’s response to countless threats over the decades – the deadly outbreak of HIV, the fall autumn anthrax outbreak, SARS, the H1N1 flu pandemic, and the administration’s silence on President Trump’s re-election In between.
On multiple occasions, guidance documents written by CDC staff – recommendations that are the most advanced science on emerging science on the SARS-Cavi-2 virus – have been revised to reflect administrative goals through political appointments in administration Washington.
Guidance to help churches resume in person safely in May, and recommended the use of the original singer should be suspended or at least reduced due to evidence involving those involved in several super-spread events, including one in the state of Washington. The advice was removed, according to the Washington Post, citing Vice President Mike Pence’s objection to the fee.
Former CDC director Tom Frieden – Redfield’s immediate predecessor – called the repetition “unreasonable.” It is endangering people’s lives. “
During the summer, according to several reports, officials in Washington were also intervening to change guidelines on whether to reopen schools. He changed the guidelines, suggesting that the CDC felt it was paramount to open schools, whether doing so would spread Covid-19.
“They worked on the school’s guidance for months,” Rosenberg said of the CDC staff. “Around the clock of 24/7, they were working to get the best scientific guidance for the country. And then … the White House hung a statement in front of him on the CDC website saying: ‘The most important thing is for the children to go back to school.’ It was not written by the CDC. Those CDC people didn’t want to say anything. ”
Recently, guidelines on who to test for Covid-19 were changed to recommend testing against people who were in contact with the case, but were asymptomatic. In fact, finding people as early as possible so that they can be told to isolate is one of the main ways the virus spreads. “This is a fundamental misunderstanding of what public health is,” Frieden said.
The extraordinary publication of op-ed in the New York Times late last month resulted in a test of advice, urging public health officials across the country to “ignore the CDC.” It was written by Harold Worms, former director of national health organizations, and Rajiv Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation.
In recent days, first politicians and then other news organizations have reported that officials in Washington are trying to improve or delay the publication of scientific reports in the CDC’s online online journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly. MMWR, as it is better known, is the basis of public health. This is where the first reports of AIDS cases were published in the United States; This is where public health workers find the latest on the first turn of an outbreak of disease or illness.
Michael Capto, director of communications for the Department of Health and Human Services and his scientific adviser, part-time university lecturer at McMaster University in Canada, Paul Alexander, asks them to read and change the MMWR article before it is published. Capto refused to read the MMWR article before publication.
The CDC refused to make Redfield available for interviews but invited written questions for the story.
In a written response, the CDC director sidestepped all of the STAT’s questions – about the political influence on the guidance documents, the research on the MMWR article, and his commitment to protecting the agency’s reputation. Instead, he said he believes the CDC “remains the world’s premier public health agency.”
“I believe that, without question, CDC science, data and service have had a tremendous impact on saving human lives,” Redfield wrote.
Redfield, a deeply deep religious man – he often concludes an interview by saying “God bless” – is described by many as imported and compassionate. In a statement to the New York Times, Caputo called the director “one of my closest friends in Washington and Washington.”
But sources tell STAT that Redfield is not a good listener. This is a lack he is aware of; In a March 2018 address to CDC staff, he said he had given his wife, Joy, a to-do list for his new job: “The first was ‘Listen.’ The other one was, ‘Don’t interrupt.’ The third was ‘Listen.’
Redfield did not come to the CDC with a public health background. And he struggled as a communicator, spoiling his ability to advocate for the CDC position, many sources suggested. At meetings of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, he is said to have frequently sent to the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the more sincere Anthony Fauci. Although he has stepped in with a violation left by the CDC director, Fawcett is not a trained public health expert either. Like Redfield, he is a virologist and an HIV clinician.
Besser admitted he did not know if Redfield would fight for the CDC behind closed doors. Frieden noted that the CDC director has been pushed back on the issue of MMWR.
But Redfield’s agency’s lack of public protection is a lead topic for CDC staff and alumni.
“The CDC director – and this is for anyone in the leadership, they have to look inside themselves and say: ‘There is a line I will not cross. And there is a line that if I underestimate the value of the agency I will not allow another to cross. ” Besser said. “And from time to time in this epidemic we have seen political measures that have undermined the credibility of the CDC, eroded public confidence in the CDC. And we are not seeing a strong defense by the CDC director. “
“What we’re seeing now is an erosion of faith.” “It’s harmful and will cost lives.”
