Coronavirus: Thread

[grarpamp]

Whistleblowers: CDC, FDA "Altered" Covid Guidance And Suppressed
Findings Amid Political Pressure

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10759403/CDC-FDA-altered-Covid-guidance-pressure-bombshell-report-claims.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10595783/Plasma-treatments-used-against-COVID-19-early-pandemic-little.html
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-104613

Instead of 'following the science,' the CDC and FDA 'altered' Covid
guidance and 'suppressed' findings while under political pressure,
accoridng to a 37-page report from the Government Accountability
Office (GAO), a watchdog group which spoke with two former CDC
directors, four former FDA directors and 17 employees who were
involved with the US pandemic response.

As the Daily Mail reports, "They unearthed allegations of 'political
interference' in scientific reports, raising fears that research was
tampered with," and that "neither agency had a system in place for
reporting allegations of political interference. It also said they had
failed to train staff how to spot and report this."

The report defined 'political' interference as that which seeks to
'undermine impartiality... and professional judgement.' They set up an
anonymous whistleblower hotline for 60 days which employees could call
to report instances, and which received 'a few calls.'

    A few respondents from CDC and FDA stated they felt that the
potential political interference they observed resulted in the
alteration or suppression of scientific findings. Some of these
respondents believed that this potential political interference may
have resulted in the politically motivated alteration of public health
guidance or delayed publication of COVID-19-related scientific
findings. -GAO

The whistleblowers say they didn't speak out earlier out of fear of
retaliation - and didn't know how to report issues to higher-ups.

More from the report;

    Through semi-structured interviews and a confidential hotline,
employees at CDC, FDA, and NIH told GAO they observed incidents that
they perceived to be political interference but did not report them
for various reasons. These reasons included fearing retaliation, being
unsure how to report issues, and believing agency leaders were already
aware.

A footnote reveals that emails made public last April between Trump
officials and CDC employees suggested that the agency had bent to
pressure over a study in its weekly morbidity reports (MMWR).

In one 2020 email, former Trump scientific adviser Paul Alexander
appeared to be celebrating getting the top line in one of its reports
changed - writing "Small victory, but a victory nonetheless yippee!!!"

Meanwhile, the FDA was also accused of 'grossly misrepresenting' the
effectiveness of blood plasma transfusions according to another GAO
footnote which cited a New York Times article. The report slams the
Trump administration for touting a '35% efficacy', when in fact plasma
transfusions actually provided little benefit to Covid-19 patients.

On Tuesday, Biden's top Covid adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, declared
that the US is now 'out of the pandemic phase' of the disease...

...however he quickly walked that back the statement - telling AP that
the US is in a "different moment" but that the pandemic isn't over
yet.

"After a brutal winter surge, "we’ve now decelerated and transitioned
into more of a controlled phase," he said. "By no means does that mean
the pandemic is over."

Why the 'clarification' Anthony?

The GAO report made seven recommendations to the four agencies it
investigated for 'political interference,' according to the Mail,
which included establishing systems for whistleblowers to report
potential interference, as well as training staff how to identify and
respond to it.