Staff Reports
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has lost its Director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who is stepping down from the position. The White House stated that Walensky worked tirelessly to safeguard every American’s health and that she took the lead in steering a vast organization through a pandemic. According to the statement released, “Dr. Walensky leaves CDC a stronger institution, better positioned to confront health threats and protect Americans,” leaving behind her legacy of hard work and dedication.
Walensky’s resignation could not have come soon enough after the disastrous collapse of public trust in the CDC that occurred on her watch. An alarming Pew Survey report from 2022 revealed that Americans’ trust in public health had significantly declined, and this included trust in scientists and medical scientists, who once seemed the most reliable in addressing the coronavirus outbreak. This alarming decline in trust was seen by only 29% of adult Americans having a great deal of confidence in medical scientists to act in the best interests of the public, despite the CDC’s assurance.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky: “Our data from the CDC today suggest that vaccinated people do not carry the virus.” pic.twitter.com/9W1SHecSEm
— The Recount (@therecount) March 30, 2021
Moreover, Walensky was not without her ethical concerns either. Allegations have emerged that she made decisions despite conflict of interest and improperly used her influence to benefit her husband’s early-stage biotechnology company. Loren D. Walensky, Rochelle’s husband, is a renowned pediatric oncology researcher at the Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In October 2019, he became part of the Board of Directors of Lytica Therapeutics, which later received a $16.9 million dollar HHS grant to “develop antibacterial peptides with broad activity against multidrug-resistant bacteria.”
Furthermore, ethics questions continue to dog Walensky after emails emerged revealing that the CDC colluded with teacher’s unions to craft politically-motivated decisions concerning masking in schools. Her earlier assumption that the Covid-19 vaccine prevented people from infection was overturned, and the reversal had huge implications for Covid-19 vaccine mandates. Walensky further misled Americans when she tweeted in July 2021 that there would be “no federal mandate.”
In a recent interview, Walensky admitted that Errors were made during the Covid pandemic. She conceded that science is gray and not always black and white. She also admitted that the talking point that the Covid-19 vaccines were “95% effective” originated from CNN.
As Walensky departs the CDC, Americans will wonder about her next steps. Many conservative political analysts expect her to follow the established path of many senior officials and job-hop into a lucrative position with Big Pharma or an industry-associated employer. One thing is clear; with over $12 billion in the CDC’s budget and a staff of more than 12,000 employees, the organization will have to navigate the next stage of responding to the pandemic without her.
Source: Trending Politics
