- CDC employees felt "threatened" if they did not adhere to the White House narrative on covid-19.
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| Former US President Donald Trump. |
Trump pressured health workers not to spread information about the pandemic, according to a report
The Government of former United States President Donald Trump (2017-2021) harassed scientists and employees of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the entity responsible for public health in the country, during the covid-19 pandemic, according to a report released Monday.
The report was produced by a subcommittee of the US House of Representatives - controlled by the Democratic Party - and alleges from interviews with former CDC employees that the Trump Administration hid information about the coronavirus from the public and repeatedly harassed its employees. workers, reports Efe.
Among other things, some CDC employees complained that government officials made them feel "threatened" and fear for their jobs if they didn't adhere to the White House narrative about COVID-19.
In addition, according to the report, the Trump administration tried on several occasions to rewrite the publications issued by the CDC, especially those that painted a gloomy picture in the first months of the pandemic.
In one of the most specific episodes narrated in the report, it is described how in the summer of 2020 the CDC had the plan to require all users of public transport and commercial aviation to wear masks, but that the Government itself was responsible for blocking it.
Although the majority of airlines and public transport systems already required passengers to wear masks by then, this obligation arose from the entities themselves, without there being any government regulations to comply with at the time.
Blocked Reports
The 91-page report details widespread Trump-era political profiling attempts within the Department of Health and Human Services to interfere with the CDC, including "tampering with science" and misuse of authority. of the agency's quarantine in a way that a director of the agency's division has come to describe as "morally wrong", according to CNN and Europa Press.
Specifically, said political appointees of the United States Health System managed to "alter or delay the publication of at least five scientific reports, as well as pressure the CDC to change the publication process of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report", according to the said chain.
In addition, the Trump Administration would also have tried to influence the scientific reports of the CDC on the pandemic in the period between May and September 2020, editing the content or blocking the publication of at least 19 different reports that they believed could have been electorally damaging to the former president.
"Contempt for Science"
"This prioritization of politics, disregard for science, and refusal to follow the advice of public health experts harmed the nation's ability to respond effectively to the coronavirus crisis and put Americans at risk," he said. a statement by Democratic representative James Clyburn, reports the Bloomberg agency.
"As we continue to recover from the coronavirus crisis, we must also continue to work to safeguard scientific integrity and restore the confidence of the American people in our public health institutions," he added.
The subcommittee report concludes that "the Trump Administration's interference" in CDC efforts to respond to the pandemic and attacks on agency scientists reflect a broader pattern of hostility that ultimately affected a wide swath of officials and public health agencies.
The document marks the culmination of a two-year investigation by the House panel and offers new details of allegations about how the Trump administration handled the COVID-19 response.
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