The director of the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) in the United States, Robert Redfield, on Wednesday lamented before Congress the attacks by an official of the Department of Health (HHS) close to President Donald Trump and who has since left his post.
"I would like to add how disappointed I was personally when people at HHS made comments that they thought there was a deep state in the CDC," either a deep state or a state in the State, Robert Redfield said at a hearing.
He was referring to Michael Caputo, the former head of communications for the Department of Health, who took leave last week after revelations about multiple pressures on scientific experts at the CDC, for example to water down health recommendations or recommendations. studies on COVID-19, to encourage the return to normalcy desired by Mr. Trump.
He said he believed in a "sedition" within the CDC, with officials determined to "attack" the president.
The famous health agency has lost credibility and has been accused by public health experts of allowing itself to be influenced by the Trump administration, in particular for having officially tried to dissuade, on its site, people without symptoms to be tested. . On this question of testing, she finally did an about-face.
Robert Redfield, himself the target of the harshest critics, has championed the dedication of CDC officers and scientists. “I find these kinds of comments insulting,” he said.
The CDC isn't the only federal agency suspected of bowing down under pressure from the White House. The Medicines Agency (FDA) is under scrutiny by elected officials and experts before one of the most important decisions in its history: a possible authorization of a vaccine against COVID-19, while four phase 3 clinical trials are in progress (one of which, AstraZeneca, remains temporarily suspended).
Its leader, Stephen Hahn, defended in the same hearing a rigorously scientific process, without interference from political power, while Donald Trump said he hoped for a vaccine before the presidential election on November 3.
"The FDA will not authorize or approve any vaccine that we do not trust and give to our families," Hahn said.
“I will fight for science,” he hammered. "I will fight for the integrity of the agency."