OPINION:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a political operation.
This week, The New York Times reported the CDC isn’t publishing large portions of the COVID-19 data it collects on boosters, hospitalization and, until recently, wastewater analyses because they “fear the information might be misinterpreted as the vaccines being ineffective.”
Among their most glaring omissions — the efficacy rate of those aged 18-to-49 on getting booster shots, “the group least likely to benefit from extra shots because the first two doses already left them well-protected,” the Times reported. In addition, pediatricians are frustrated at the lack of CDC data on the proportion of children hospitalized for COVID-19 who have other medical conditions — probably because that’s the majority of cases. Got to keep the fear level high.
The CDC’s repeated dishonesty, lack of transparency and data manipulation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic have been staggering — all to push President Biden’s universal vaccination strategy. It’s not about following the science, it’s about following the political science.
There is no evidence that masking children in classrooms slows viral spread, yet CDC Director Rochelle Walensky has repeatedly said schools without mask mandates have triple the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks. Even The Atlantic reported in December this claim was based on “very shaky science.”
The World Health Organization doesn’t recommend masking children under the age of six. Many European countries, Britain among them, never masked students, and in Florida, where a mask-optional policy has long been in place, very few children have become seriously ill.
Mrs. Walensky based her claims on a profoundly misleading study published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which lumped schools that were open with schools that were closed — meaning schools with mask mandates may have had fewer days in session, limiting a student’s exposure. Among its other flaws, the study didn’t measure how many children or staff were vaccinated. If more people had been immunized at the schools with mask mandates, then they likely would’ve seen fewer outbreaks.
Noah Haber, an interdisciplinary scientist and a co-author of a systematic review of COVID-19 mitigation policies, told The Atlantic that the CDC’s masking research was “so unreliable that it probably should not have been entered into the public discourse.”
But it served the Biden administration’s narrative, so it was widely disseminated to push a school-masking mandate. Last week, Mrs. Walensky told a congressional committee there were “limitations” on the availability of masking studies, but that “our guidance currently is that masking should happen in all schools.” Meanwhile, the CDC quietly lowered its standards for speech in early childhood development. Instead of highlighting some of the potentially harmful effects of masking small children, they simply lowered the bar.
In upping the COVID-19 fear factor, the CDC published a study in January that contended students below the age of 18 who get diagnosed with COVID-19 were 2.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes. That, too, was distorted.
First, the study didn’t adjust for weight. It’s well known that obese children are more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes in general. Second, the overall risk of developing diabetes was really low — 6 in 10,000 COVID-19 survivors.
“The CDC erred in taking a preliminary and potentially erroneous association and tweeting it to specifically create alarm in patients,” Jeffrey Flier, a former dean of Harvard Medical School, told The New York Times of the study.
Still, it was published and pushed to motivate reluctant parents to get their children vaccinated.
And the benefits of natural immunity? Well, that would run counter to the CDC’s universal vaccination strategy and had to be suppressed.
For the majority of last year, many physicians were clamoring to understand the benefits of natural immunity: If you got COVID-19, were you likely to get it again? For more than two years, the CDC refused to release its data on reinfection rates, and instead pushed mandatory vaccinations for all eligible.
In January, the CDC finally released data from New York and California which demonstrated natural immunity was 2.8 times as effective in preventing hospitalization and 3.3 to 4.7 times as effective in preventing COVID-19 infection compared to vaccination.
Yet, the CDC’s official line was: “Vaccination remains the safest strategy.” Its vaccination guidance and hospital booster mandates remain unchanged.
The CDC has abandoned science to push propaganda: Get vaccinated and stay masked.
As a result, many Americans have lost faith in the institution. Others have become so brainwashed, their lives never will return to normal.
• Kelly Sadler is the commentary editor at The Washington Times.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
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