Public Briefings Will Resume, Says Biden's Choice for CDC Director

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Last updated on January 17th, 2021 at 08:01 am

Speaking to CNN, Rochelle Walensky, President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said that public briefings would resume under her leadership. That’s an about-face from current policy: The CDC has halted most of its briefings during the Covid-19 pandemic and most communication about the agency’s response to the crisis has been left to President Donald Trump and the White House coronavirus task force.

We need to have a uniformity of message. We’re already in really frequent communication, which I’m enthusiastic about, to make sure that the science that we are hearing is consistent with what other people are learning and that we’re taking all of the science collaboratively and making policies at a federal level,” Walensky said.

She added: “We need to promote the science, we need to just make sure the science is being consistent and translatable into guidance that is uniform across the states.”

You can watch Walensky’s interview with CNN below.

Incoming CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky says she plans to reinstate regular public CDC briefings. “I think communication has to be key here,” she says. https://t.co/XtZ04HBMnP pic.twitter.com/Hv2aDsTeN0

— CNN This Morning (@CNNThisMorning) December 23, 2020

Walensky also commented on vaccine distribution, reminding Americans that even though the process is underway, they should still wear masks and abide by social distancing guidelines to curb the spread of the virus.

Walensky is currently the chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. She will be the third woman to lead the CDC since its creation. She is among the key members of the health team tasked with addressing the Covid-19 pandemic, which has claimed the lives of more than 322,000 Americans to date.