I'd like to add that after the vaccine was available, she allowed the CDC staff to continue to work from home for months casting doubt on the vaccine's effectiveness and leading a lot of people to wonder why the CDC was not at the forefront of figuring out how to safely return to work.
The real tragedy here is that trust in public health (which includes the CDC) has been compromised - for me to the point of no return. Rochelle will end up with a nice cush job with Pfizer or Moderna, and zero consequences for failure.
Wow, what an exposé on Walensky. I will say I'm not too quick to dismiss the moral arguments, though.
I know this piece was focusing on her scientific errors. However, I'm interested in the underlying reason...the root-cause analysis, as it were. Walensky had no moral compass. She did what she was told to do, regardless of how wrong it was. She lied to a pathologic degree.
Either she was acting out of an infinite wellspring of ignorance, or she considered her personal gain from obeying the current administration as more important than serving the people in truth. Neither justify her maintaining her position as long as she did.
Even more evil and (I'll just say it) sinful, are all the physicians who supposedly have trained in objective and analytical science who goose-stepped right behind Walensky en masse without even a care for the truth of RCTs, basic scientific reasoning, and patient autonomy.
When you run the CDC, I don't need "kind". I need "accurate, scientific (the real kind not politically expedient), data driven, and apolitical". But most of all, do no (knowingly) harm. She and the cdc fda et all failed. To the extent never seen before. Or...... Or it was always like this like we, the public, never knew.
In March or early April of 2020 Rochelle was on a Covid panel sponsored by my synagogue in Newton MA. I watched it by zoom. Since I was convinced that the lockdowns and school closures were unnecessary and bound to have spin-outs of harm, I was relieved when she expressed that she thought that schools should be open (paraphrased). She was the only panelist as I recall who seemed unambiguous on the subject. So I was elated when she later was named Dir of CDC and again expressed her views on opening schools. Unfortunately, not much time to be elated -- The Teachers Union via Randi and the Biden administration wanted closures and so they continued with Rochelle's seeming support and encouragement.Having expected more, I was deeply disappointed in her tenure at CDC and how political she was willing to be.Beyond her, however, this incident along with many during the covid response made me far more cynical about human nature and the compliance of human beings. How easily we can convince ourselves that we are doing something we don't believe in if it's for some "better good". I am far more cynical than I was about institutions and most people.
She also refused to address natural immunity, her lack of risk stratification for patient populations was outrageous, we do that every day, she refused to accept-and underplayed myocarditis as a reality for far too long, refused to look at international data when Israel and UK with their national health services were canaries in the coal mine re safety signals, waning immunity. SHe participated=caved to Randi and AFT in destroying several years worth of education for children of all ages with greatest losses in minority populations. She never functioned as a scientist in this role, only a mouthpiece. I will be apoplectic if she rolls this into a million dollar big pharma job like Scott Gottlieb did.
Vinay -- Thank you for your usual spot-on insights and criticisms. Much much more could be added. Here's my brief comment based on direct clinical experience as a physician caring for over a thousand surviving covid patients. This is based on the referenced CDC's "long covid" report. The numbers are exaggerated beyond the ridiculous. Many supposedly educated doctors and others lack the critical thinking to question the CDC. This is from my direct experience:
I could count one patient -- yes, a mere singleton -- with a fairly convincing case of long covid. This person was 100 percent functional but suffered anosmia for a year or so post covid. I note that the putative neurologic features of long covid are an exact replication of those in "Havana Syndrome". These include fatigue, poor sleep, poor concentration, depressed mood, etc. Remember that HS is entirely without a physical cause, but was fertilized by fear akin to the LC narrative promoted by the CDC and MSM. My conclusion is that there is little physiology behind long covid beyond mass psychogenic illness courtesy of the CDC and MSM.
Really? Can you explain what she did right? Where did she tell the truth to the American people? Where did she cite the research behind her decision making?
making kids
keeping kids out of school
cloth masks work
2 masks are better then one
no need to do RCTs?
the vaccines stop transmission
vaccines are "95% effective"
Healthy children died OF covid?
long covid in children ?
incidence in long covid in adults?
I hope your patients see how your require no scientific evidence to practice medicine and that you think lying to patient is cool.
Yes, she flunked the test. Good student sometimes don’t perform well. Based on her credentials and reputation, she seemed to be somewhat naive as to what her job would entail. Her words mattered a lot and she forgot how to shut up and be open to other answers. There was no going back once she opened her mouth. The more desperate she became, the deeper the hole she dug for herself. It’s ok to criticize her actions, but I’m not swayed that she was part of an evil conspiracy.
"didn't event read this" must be the reason why people still trusts the CDC or the FDA. What kind of "doctor" doesn't read things and comments? Answer: the kind of person who parrots propaganda.
Uh, considering the question of the validity of her post in the first place, maybe less concentration on the political spotlight and more on some Prada merch and vacations for now.
You are why Substack so desparately needs a silence/quiet button. But you do not hold a candle to Gene Frenkel. Still cut from the same valueless cloth, however.
I'd like to add that after the vaccine was available, she allowed the CDC staff to continue to work from home for months casting doubt on the vaccine's effectiveness and leading a lot of people to wonder why the CDC was not at the forefront of figuring out how to safely return to work.
Generally, I love everything Vinay writes.
But a 0 for 4 I would have scored her much lower!
I think secretly Vinay would as well. He's just being a nice guy.
The real tragedy here is that trust in public health (which includes the CDC) has been compromised - for me to the point of no return. Rochelle will end up with a nice cush job with Pfizer or Moderna, and zero consequences for failure.
Wow, what an exposé on Walensky. I will say I'm not too quick to dismiss the moral arguments, though.
I know this piece was focusing on her scientific errors. However, I'm interested in the underlying reason...the root-cause analysis, as it were. Walensky had no moral compass. She did what she was told to do, regardless of how wrong it was. She lied to a pathologic degree.
Either she was acting out of an infinite wellspring of ignorance, or she considered her personal gain from obeying the current administration as more important than serving the people in truth. Neither justify her maintaining her position as long as she did.
Even more evil and (I'll just say it) sinful, are all the physicians who supposedly have trained in objective and analytical science who goose-stepped right behind Walensky en masse without even a care for the truth of RCTs, basic scientific reasoning, and patient autonomy.
nicely put
When you run the CDC, I don't need "kind". I need "accurate, scientific (the real kind not politically expedient), data driven, and apolitical". But most of all, do no (knowingly) harm. She and the cdc fda et all failed. To the extent never seen before. Or...... Or it was always like this like we, the public, never knew.
Will she now move to a lucrative post in big pharma or some allied organisation? Probably.
She’s been an enormous disappointment. Another sad thing is that probably millions of people still believe her nonsense.
In March or early April of 2020 Rochelle was on a Covid panel sponsored by my synagogue in Newton MA. I watched it by zoom. Since I was convinced that the lockdowns and school closures were unnecessary and bound to have spin-outs of harm, I was relieved when she expressed that she thought that schools should be open (paraphrased). She was the only panelist as I recall who seemed unambiguous on the subject. So I was elated when she later was named Dir of CDC and again expressed her views on opening schools. Unfortunately, not much time to be elated -- The Teachers Union via Randi and the Biden administration wanted closures and so they continued with Rochelle's seeming support and encouragement.Having expected more, I was deeply disappointed in her tenure at CDC and how political she was willing to be.Beyond her, however, this incident along with many during the covid response made me far more cynical about human nature and the compliance of human beings. How easily we can convince ourselves that we are doing something we don't believe in if it's for some "better good". I am far more cynical than I was about institutions and most people.
She also refused to address natural immunity, her lack of risk stratification for patient populations was outrageous, we do that every day, she refused to accept-and underplayed myocarditis as a reality for far too long, refused to look at international data when Israel and UK with their national health services were canaries in the coal mine re safety signals, waning immunity. SHe participated=caved to Randi and AFT in destroying several years worth of education for children of all ages with greatest losses in minority populations. She never functioned as a scientist in this role, only a mouthpiece. I will be apoplectic if she rolls this into a million dollar big pharma job like Scott Gottlieb did.
Vinay -- Thank you for your usual spot-on insights and criticisms. Much much more could be added. Here's my brief comment based on direct clinical experience as a physician caring for over a thousand surviving covid patients. This is based on the referenced CDC's "long covid" report. The numbers are exaggerated beyond the ridiculous. Many supposedly educated doctors and others lack the critical thinking to question the CDC. This is from my direct experience:
I could count one patient -- yes, a mere singleton -- with a fairly convincing case of long covid. This person was 100 percent functional but suffered anosmia for a year or so post covid. I note that the putative neurologic features of long covid are an exact replication of those in "Havana Syndrome". These include fatigue, poor sleep, poor concentration, depressed mood, etc. Remember that HS is entirely without a physical cause, but was fertilized by fear akin to the LC narrative promoted by the CDC and MSM. My conclusion is that there is little physiology behind long covid beyond mass psychogenic illness courtesy of the CDC and MSM.
I ❤️ Walensky 😊
I ♥️ Prasad. I would also love to have a CDC that earned trust.
Really? Can you explain what she did right? Where did she tell the truth to the American people? Where did she cite the research behind her decision making?
making kids
keeping kids out of school
cloth masks work
2 masks are better then one
no need to do RCTs?
the vaccines stop transmission
vaccines are "95% effective"
Healthy children died OF covid?
long covid in children ?
incidence in long covid in adults?
I hope your patients see how your require no scientific evidence to practice medicine and that you think lying to patient is cool.
She's tall, and has a nice face, but I wouldn't select her as my doctor.
Yes, she flunked the test. Good student sometimes don’t perform well. Based on her credentials and reputation, she seemed to be somewhat naive as to what her job would entail. Her words mattered a lot and she forgot how to shut up and be open to other answers. There was no going back once she opened her mouth. The more desperate she became, the deeper the hole she dug for herself. It’s ok to criticize her actions, but I’m not swayed that she was part of an evil conspiracy.
I ❤️ Walensky 😊 Overall she did a good job. Didn’t even read this! Easy to throw peanuts from the peanut gallery.
"didn't event read this" must be the reason why people still trusts the CDC or the FDA. What kind of "doctor" doesn't read things and comments? Answer: the kind of person who parrots propaganda.
Most likely a Russian Bot.
Well, I hear she's available now. Maybe you can hire her for your next date night.
Not so fast Terri! She's probably very busy acclimating to her new pharma job!
True, but with her previous performance, I'm sure there won't be much actual work involved:
Task 1: Keeping cozy with the politicians.
Task 2: Pushing for more boosters
Ryan, I think she can fit you in on Monday night. And Tuesday night too....
Uh, considering the question of the validity of her post in the first place, maybe less concentration on the political spotlight and more on some Prada merch and vacations for now.
Big Pharma will welcome her with a very large bonus for services rendered.
You are why Substack so desparately needs a silence/quiet button. But you do not hold a candle to Gene Frenkel. Still cut from the same valueless cloth, however.
Remind me not to seek your professional opinion, ever.
Please welcome the next CDC Director...RYAN!
Do me a favor....use your MD brain and please write out an opinion piece on why you think she did a good job. I promise.. I’LL READ IT!