I will definitely hear the voices of science again

by

One of the key priorities of the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is to ensure that the organisation’s scientists and public health experts are “heard again.”

In an interview Tuesday with JAMA editor, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, President Joe Biden’s election to be head of the CDC said she will be heavily reliant on the nearly 10,000 employees of the major public health body , including many who said she was unable to speak out about the Covid-19 pandemic in the last four years under the Trump administration. Biden will be inaugurated as President on Wednesday when Walensky officially leads the CDC that evening.

“I think they have been reduced. I think they are disillusioned, ”Walensky said of CDC staff and scientists in an interview with Dr. Howard Bauchner, editor of JAMA. “No science has been heard. I need to fix that. . . and make sure those voices are heard again. “

Walensky, who has been head of the department of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, is a professor at Harvard Medical School and noted an HIV researcher. She has vowed to be a clearer public opposition to the CDC, which has been the subject of political obstruction during the pandemic.

Fortunately, Walensky said the CDC’s talented staff did not escape under four years of Trump’s White House. “There hadn’t been too much exodus,” she said in the 30-minute interview.

Among its costs, she told Bauchner, is that they will want to update the CDC’s communications, especially since the Covid-19 vaccines are being distributed to the U.S. public.

“As we talk about vaccine and anti-vaxxers complaints,” Walensky said the CDC must be able to deal with that with an effective communication plan.

Walensky said she needs to repair communications inside and outside the CDC.

“It’s not the right information to get out there,” Walensky said. “I want (all CDC staff) to be able to speak. I want to make sure the science is heard. We need to have a social media plan for the organization. ”

Watch the full video of JAMA’s interview with Dr. Walensky below:

.Source