Director of the Covid-19 Covid-19 vaccines with new restrictions. Scott Simon of NPR talks with Dr. Carlos del Rio of Emori University about the latest in health policy news.
Scott Simon, host:
Let’s try to understand the consequences of a loud week of disease control and prevention centers. Susan Monarerez is the director of the Center for Disease Control. The job was filled for less than a month. Many other senior officials resigned this week in protest. On Thursday, three jam from the agency’s headquarters. Dr. Carlos del Rio is a professor of infectious diseases at the Faculty of Medicine at Emory University in Atlanta. Dr. Del Rio, thank you very much for being with us.
Carlos del Rio: I am happy to be with you, Scott.
Simon: What is your reaction when I heard that the director Monares was separated?
Del Rio: Well, I was very concerned, and great anxiety because she is the first director of the Disease Control Center controlled by the Senate. I was looking to see her director CDC. Although she had no general health experience, she had a lot of government experience. She is a good scientist. She – as you know, during confirmation sessions, has made it very clear that she will try to follow the flag, be respondent, and make public health depend on science. But it is clear that when I tried to place the flag over politics, she hit a wall, and was rejected as a result.
Simon: Director Monares and Minister of Health Robert F. did not agree. Kennedy Junior on the policy of vaccine, and two leaving officials at the Center for Disease Control indicated their concerns about vaccines. What do you do from this struggle for the question?
Del Rio: As you know, what we see in it – the trends we see in the policy policies in this country are very related. We – as you know, first and foremost, we had Acip, practices of immunization of the advisory committee, and refused. This is the committee that makes recommendations on vaccines that must be made and when to be submitted. This is very important for the health of our children, for the health of adults and maintaining the health of people, which is the mission of the Center for Disease Control – to make Americans remain in good health. Now I see people who are general expert staff in the long -term vaccines as a result of the pressure they feel.
So I am concerned about the future of the Center for Disease Control. I am concerned about what it means. CDC is a critical agency. CDC is the jewel of the crown in our country. It is respected worldwide like the Public Health Agency – as you know, may be respected globally or more than the World Health Organization. Seeing the Center for Disease Control is dismantled, wonderful people and good people working in the Center for Disease Control, they leave and resign, cares about me a lot and makes me feel concerned about the future of the agency, but more importantly, the health of Americans.
Simon: Do you have any concern about the Center for Disease Control, with the preparation of all resignations, if – well, I shouldn’t say if there is – when there is the next type of public health crisis?
Del Rio: Scott, we already have a public health crisis. We have a measles epidemic. We have – every day there is a public health crisis. Often, do not hear about it. My teacher, Dr. James Kern, who was at the Center for Disease Control for many years, says something I think is very important – general health at its best is when nothing happens. You don’t hear anything. But when you start hearing, as you know, there is measles here, and there is bird flu here, and there is this here, and there is diarrhea here, and there, as you know, the outbreak of this other disease here, and that is when public health fails.
So when you see more and more small outbreaks like that and the things that happen in our country, this general health does not work, and do not do what you are supposed to do. As you know, every American has not been touched by public health. You may not know that, but public health directly affects the life of every American literally.
Simon: d. Del Rio, you seem very worried.
Del Rio: I am very worried, Scott. As you know, I live in Atlanta. CDC is – it is an agency based in Atlanta. People who work there are not only my friends, but they are people I have known for a long time, and I know how passionate about their job. I know how much they have the commitment to what they are doing. They are people who are really slaves of public health, who do what they do because of money, not because of fame and wealth, but because they want to serve our country. As you know, many of them are part of the United States’ public health service. In other words, they are part of the army, the armed forces. They are devoted to our country, just like soldiers and others. They are public health soldiers.
I look at the Center for Disease Control as the place where everyone – all of them searching for advice when it comes to public health emergencies, when it comes to public health recommendations. Currently, for example, Scott, we see that there is an increase in SARS -COV -2 and Covid in wastewater in many cities. So what does that mean? What do we do next? Who are we – how do we prevent outbreaks? These are the types of things in which the center of control and recommendation is found. And if you do not have technical experience, if you do not have the strength of the brain behind it, you will not get the right recommendations.
Simon: Dr. Carlos del Rio of the Faculty of Medicine at Imori University, thank you very much for us.
Del Rio: It is a pleasure to be with you.
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