The CDC criticizes communication failures and promises better results: Shot

Dr. Rochelle Warrensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies at a Senate hearing. Authorities have been criticized for not holding regular briefings. This week, Warrensky has promised to hold a regular briefing.

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Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images.

Dr. Rochelle Warrensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies at a Senate hearing. Authorities have been criticized for not holding regular briefings. This week, Warrensky has promised to hold a regular briefing.

Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images.

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention held a telebriefing.

Directed by Rochelle Walensky, along with two career scientists.The substance was noteworthy — updated COVID-19 Guidance from Kindergarten to High School..

But even more noteworthy was the fact that all the briefings had taken place.

Despite the ongoing pandemic crisis, it was the first such briefing in a few months.

The lack of regular communication has spurred criticism from government agencies.Recently, public health professionals have been using the CDC Confusing quarantine and quarantine guidance, And asked the agency to contact the agency more often and more clearly.

Unfulfilled promise

In fact, the Biden administration has repeatedly promised to put career scientists at the center of COVID communication. However, such experts usually do not appear outside the White House COVID-19 response team briefing.

This is not the same as a briefing by a subject matter expert, but shares what they know with the media and the general public.

“In fact, the CDC has enthusiastic scientists who are world experts on many of these issues. They need to talk directly with the general public with Dr. Warensky,” said the CDC director. Dr. Tom Frieden said.The Obama administration currently in operation Decide to save livesAn initiative to help governments and external groups prevent epidemics.

The CDC responds to these inadequate communication accusations. The agency has decided to hold a briefing on Friday, Wallensky told reporters over the phone.

“This is difficult and I promise to keep improving,” she said. “I hope this will be the first of many briefings and I am very much looking forward to it.”

“We hope this will be a turning point in rebuilding confidence in the CDC,” said Frieden. “The more the CDC can talk directly to the general public according to its own principles of communication in health emergencies, the better we all will be.”

For CDC, the COVID-19 briefing is very sparse

The idea of ​​speaking during a public health crisis is nothing new. “CDC is literally Wrote a book How to communicate in a health emergency, “says Frieden. And its community. ”

GlennowakHaving run the agency’s media affairs, says press briefing is an important part of its mission. “Press briefings are really useful when there is a health development that usually makes sense to notify Americans and give recommendations and guidance on what they should do about it,” he says. ..

When the H1N1 epidemic began in 2009, “we had a daily press conference for eight weeks, including weekends,” says Nowak. “As long as there was something new or different, we had a press conference. We had to do that.”

The idea wasn’t just about letting the public know. In a media briefing, Frieden said: “You should deal with that problem.” “”

When SARS-CoV-2 was confirmed in China, the CDC seemed to follow the playbook.

In mid-January 2020, Dr. Nancy Mesonier, then director of the CDC’s National Center for Vaccination and Respiratory Medicine, led the first CDC telebriefing on this issue. She is joined by another career scientist, Dr. Marty Setron, Director of the CDC’s Global Transition and Quarantine Division.

“Since the outbreak of MERS and SARS, we have improved our capabilities in the United States and around the world,” Meissonier told reporters. “We are now ready to respond quickly and cooperatively to this new threat.”

These briefings continued every few days until one of them drew attention to the United States.upon February 25, 2020, Meissonier warned, “This may be bad.”

“I talked to my family at breakfast this morning. I didn’t think I was at risk now, but I told the kids that as a family we need to be prepared for serious disruption to our lives.” She said. Said.

After her comment, the financial markets plunged. President Donald Trump said the pandemic was of little concern and control, but was so angry with Meissonier that he wanted to fire her. The next day, he assigned Vice President Mike Pence to the White House Coronavirus Task Force. The aired COVID-19 briefing became a White House incident. The CDC director was not normally present.

CDC Telebriefing Continue for a while — Only occasionally.

Under Biden, the CDC still seems to be on the sidelines

President Biden took office with a promise to overcome the pandemic by regaining public confidence.

“Scientists and public health experts will talk to you directly-so you will hear more from Dr. Forch again-from real real experts and scientists, not from the president,” Biden said. Pledged the next day of his inauguration.

Indeed, Americans have heard a lot from Dr. Anthony Fauci of NIH (President’s Chief Medical Adviser) and Warensky of the CDC. Both frequently participate as guests in television news programs and the White House’s COVID-19 response briefings, usually several times a week.

But under Biden, the CDC and its career scientists still seem to be on the sidelines. The CDC actually reduced telebriefing on pandemics under Biden.

In 2020, under Trump, was around 2 dozen CDC telebriefings..

2021, under Biden, There were two..

Dr. Celine GrounderShe is an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist at New York University and sees Dr. Warensky as a mentor, she says she wants to hear more from the new administration’s CDC career scientists.

“I want to hear more from them — what science are they doing? How are they working on it? What is their process?” She says. .. “I think there’s something to say just by putting a human face on some of this,” she adds, adding that the general public can’t understand if guidance changes are made through the CDC website. ..

She calls Valensky’s promise to revive regular briefings “good news.”

Politics and pandemics are not always good companions

The administration says it seems to treat the pandemic as a political issue that must be managed in a political way. Greg Gonzalves, An epidemiologist at Yale University.

“We need more openness and transparency from the White House, and they need to unchain scientists,” he says.

One of the most important issues may be the conflict between politics and public health.

The political message should be simple. But that doesn’t work for infectious disease messages, says Nowak. “The situation is much more dynamic. Viruses can change a lot and the recommendations can change in less effective ways,” he says. “In infectious disease communication, you really have to admit uncertainty.”

However, he has worked for the CDC for 14 years throughout the Democratic and Republican governments, saying the White House tends to have more and more strict control over messaging.

“The scientists and professionals doing these briefings need to be willing to trust in doing what they need to do,” he says. “And this administration isn’t unique, not because of the breadth of imagination in terms of the willingness to trust career scientists,” he added, that they don’t seem to trust them very much.

Valensky’s pledge to hold more briefings is “a beneficial development,” he says. “The question will be how often they promise to hold regular press conferences, what the topic is, what the message is.”

The CDC did not answer NPR’s question about how often agencies plan to hold agency-led briefings.

Frieden wants the CDC to fulfill its promise and speak more often directly with the general public.

“It’s good for everyone,” he says. “The CDC is good because it can explain itself. It’s good for the government because it’s better to have a CDC that people trust, and it’s good for the general public because they can understand the guidance.”