5 reasons i distrusted the CDC during the pandemic

i find it super wild that folks are just now beginning to question the CDC who i feel has failed us many times throughout the pandemic. The following are my top 5 reasons for mistrusting this agency over the last two years:

1). i questioned when the CDC chose to release safety protocols when we were less than 35% fully vaccinated and on top of that chose NOT to gather pertinent data on breakthrough cases from vaccinated folks unless they resulted in hospitalization or death; a decision that baffled many experts and public health officials as this statistical information is critical during a novel pandemic; this information is needed to track the true effectiveness of the vaccine and one could only wonder what prompted such an unwise decision from the standpoint of public health—to me, this came off as very distrustful. We will never truly know just how much vaccinated people contributed to the spread of COVID-19 in the u.s. last year partially because vaccines were early-on marketed as blocking transmission (which was interesting because this claim was never made in the clinical trials). Believing this to be true, most places did not require vaccinated folks to be tested and there were most likely many cases where vaccinated people may have had asymptomatic or mild cases, not realizing they were infectious to others and contributing to community spread. Let’s be clear that even the CDC played a part in this particular misinformation regarding vaccines and transmission as the director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, told MSNBC in March of 2021: “Our data from the CDC today suggests that vaccinated people do not carry the virus, don’t get sick." This statement was criticized by medical experts and she quickly backtracked after a fellow CDC spokesperson came forward saying there was not enough evidence to make such a claim—of course we now know that with variants like Delta, where vaccinated and unvaccinated people have similar viral loads, this of course, is just not true.

2). Or what about when they released those safety protocols without clearly communicating the level of risk for immunocompromised folks regardless of their vaccination status. According to the CDC, there are some mildly to severely immunocompromised people that never develop a protective immunized response after their initial vaccination and even when they do, the efficacy greatly wanes over time. They warn: "People who have a condition or are taking medications that weaken their immune system may not be protected even if they are fully vaccinated. They should continue to take all precautions recommended for unvaccinated people, including wearing a well-fitted mask, until advised otherwise by their healthcare provider." Though it is written on the site (and i feel this information should have been bolded and highlighted), i have rarely, if ever, heard this communicated by their public officials. The lack of critical information not being adequately shared by public officials within the pandemic has played a part in contributing to unnecessary COVID-19 deaths--though this article was written for the UK, i feel it more than applies to the way the u.s. has handled the pandemic.

3). How about looking all ways they are pressuring folks into boosters—against the advice of WHO that criticized rich nations for stockpiling vaccines which may PROLONG the pandemic—without sharing ANY evidence of why they are needed for the entire population particularly for young, healthy folks, many of who are already immunized either by vaccination or prior infection; particularly without ever once mentioning that there could be a level of risk taking boosters and vaccines in general for young populations (public officials and mainstream news rarely note that young people under 40 experience higher rates of myocarditis post-vaccination, especially after the second shot; this has been noted to be more prevalent in male bodies, especially between the ages of 16-24) . They never mention that if you’ve had covid, symptoms from the first vaccine may actually be worse. Also, as i shared in my last blog, i have never heard them publicly share that multiple countries including Germany, France, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, and Denmark have actually banned Moderna for use in young people which caused more cases of myocarditis compared to other vaccines; even countries like Canada have clearly cautioned young folks against using the Moderna vaccine. i feel this information is essential to public health so people can truly make informed decisions which does not appear to be a value of the CDC during this pandemic. Lastly, VAERS received 10,688 reports of death last year and though many of these deaths have yet to be verified, it feels distrustful to folks like myself that these numbers are never mentioned—even when they do admit harm, the CDC uses choice language like 5 people per million experience anaphylaxis immediately after COVID-19 vaccination instead of clearly communicating there have been more than 1,200 confirmed deaths because of this severe type of allergic reaction which is arguably very rare (but notice how they only become very vague with numbers whenever it would potentially lead to anything they might deem as vaccine hesitancy).

4). Or what about all the times they went back and forth about whether or not asymptomatic people need to be tested, silently updating their website several times—why make critical updates without a public announcement? They received a great deal of backlash after sharing that asymptomatic folks who had been exposed to covid-19 did not need to get tested. According to Dr. Tim Frieden, former director of the CDC and current president of Resolve to Save Lives, "when that went up on the CDC website, I and many other people said there is no way in the world that was written by a public health expert… It just flies in the face of basic public health control measures." Many other experts pointed out how this contributed to the heavy amounts of chaos and confusion already exacerbated by the pandemic.

5). What about how overemphasizing vaccination without also clearly communicating other effective drugs/treatments (like monoclonal antibodies) is part of the reason even medical providers do not know about FDA-approved treatments to COVID-19. Let’s be clear that monoclonal antibodies have been approved since November of 2020, but yet, CNN’s last report on this in October of 2021 found that there are still doctors unaware of this lifesaving treatment. For months, they were only being used 5-20% of the time though they have been proven to prevent hospitalization and death 70-85%. “When asked by CNN why more doctors and health centers aren't getting antibodies to their Covid-19 patients, Dr. Fauci said, ‘I can't explain that.’" He never appears to consider that the u.s. has in many ways failed in its public health campaign regarding covid-19 and many (medical providers and citizens alike) are confused, frustrated, and cynical.

There are many other reasons i have questioned the CDC during this pandemic. While i would like to believe they have our best interests at heart and that they are doing their best to handle the way this virus has disrupted the world, my spirit and intuition says otherwise. The new director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who is currently attending media training after experiencing a great deal of criticism from scientists and medical experts as well as the general public, comes off more as a politician—she rarely answers a straightforward question and many of her answers feel selectively scripted. i follow the CDC’s website fairly religiously and i am pretty up-to-date on their ever-changing guidelines and reports which they do not always clearly share with the public (red flag). Though their website has clearly shown that natural immunity is, at the minimum, comparable to the vaccine, i have never heard her or any other CDC official publicly admit this—in fact, there were moments where science was ignored regarding natural immunity and many other times where they communicated there was no data despite numerous large studies available (particularly the huge study from Israel that showed natural immunity was 27 times more effective than the vaccine—which was later updated to 13x better given the Delta variant) along with the fact that they have access to agencies and resources to learn more about something that may be the most critical part of COVID-19 becoming endemic—it became clear to me that they, like many other organizations and officals, most likely wanted to avoid this subject as long as possible because natural immunity is no way profitable. The study from Israel was pointed out to them many times and they later released their own study sharing the opposite—that the vaccine was in fact 5x better than prior infection which is inconsistent with studies from many other countries. Many scientists actually found fault with this study sharing it had many biases and limitations—a future blog, dedicated to natural immunity, will break this down further. Ending this post with another flawed analysis by the CDC which according to Dr. Vinay Prasad illuminates the level of bias within the agency and it’s attempt to vaccinate americans by what appears to be any means necessary.