CDC director is seen as allowing agency to buckle to political influence

CDC DIRECTOR ROBERT REDFIELD TESTIFIES BEFORE A SENATE PANEL IN JUNE. (AL DRAGO - POOL/GETTY IMAGES)

CDC Director Robert Redfield is at a crucial moment, 2 1/2 years into his tenure: Current and former staffers say the storied agency's reputation is stained, morale has plummeted, and Redfield is not doing enough to protect the agency from political meddling. “A reputation that takes 75 years to build can be destroyed in four months. That’s horrifying,” former CDC official Mark Rosenberg tells STAT's Helen Branswell. In recent months, as the Trump administration has focused on downplaying the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic, CDC personnel — including Redfield — have been silenced and sidelined, while public health guidance from the staff has been revised by political appointees in Washington. “This is crossing a line that is really a very firm red line, of interference with the technical science,” former CDC director Tom Frieden tells Helen. Read more.