00:00In this case at the CDC. What is going on in that building and what will it mean for the credibility of this agency? Yeah. You know, I mean, I think yesterday in the last two days, events come in the setting of a whole series of things that have destabilized science and federal public health infrastructure here in the U.S.. Right. 25% of the employees at the CDC were gutted. Entire divisions have been removed. Most recently, we heard that food safety division was removed, which makes no sense because I believe one of the major tenets of Marja is safe, nutritious food. And and now we're seeing and then you also see entire cuts to budgets, to science. My concern is, you know, in the setting of the firing and what we're seeing in the resignation letter, that there is a pressure that the political office of the HHS secretary is influencing health policy and then trying to backstop policy decisions with science that doesn't exist or, you know what? Science can't back up that that itself hearing that is going to lead to just not just distress among the public, but potentially a shadow of doubt among health professionals who are responsible for carrying out that policy, which could be pretty dangerous. What do all of these departures mean? It's not just the CDC director. There were a handful of major resignations by CDC leaders today as well. What kind of brain drain will this bring to the agency? Yeah, this is the latest and really a deep cut. You know, Dr. Death, Galactus and I actually worked at the White House together. He was the deputy director of the parks response while I was with the White House COVID response. And he's a he's an incredible long term public health advocate. But also somebody, as you said, brings us institutional memory. We're losing decades, you know, added additively centuries of experience from our public health agencies, not just at CDC, but also at the FDA and the NIH that we've seen in terms of layoffs, the, you know, the reassignments. I and the other part of you can say we're casting doubt on the performance of our agencies, which is which are, by the way, it's filled with incredible, dedicated career. Scientists have been doing this regardless who the administration is for a very long period of time. But at the same time, what you're seeing is all these external advisory committees and groups like the the that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices or the FDA committees, all of those are being gutted and replaced by those who don't have qualifications and those who have expressed doubts and some distrust in vaccines. And that will also expand distrust in both public health, but also vaccination. Okay. I want to ask you about the broader agenda then, which we're trying to define. And this morning it came about on fox News. RFK jr the secretary did an interview and talked about this whole situation at the cdc. Here's what he said. So we need to look at the priorities of the agency. If there is really a deeply, deeply embedded, I would say, malaise at the agency. And we need a strong leadership that will go in there and that will be able to execute on President Trump's broad ambitions. Jim O'Neill, presumably part of that strong leadership. But there are people in Washington who are asking questions, including some on Capitol Hill. Doctor, look no further than Senator Bill Cassidy, of course, also a doctor taking to Twitter to say these high profile departures will require oversight by the HELP Committee, which of course, he chairs. Will there be a congressional response? Will there be any other guidepost here beyond the administration itself? Honestly, one can only hope, Right? I think that we spoke about the devastation that you're seeing in terms of the loss of the public health infrastructure and then the lack of trust. But there aren't many other things that can backstop that kind of response. The government's science plays the White House's role, maybe to provide broad priorities, of course, for public health and an investment. But its role is not to dictate science. That's really where the federal scientists play a role. I think we just talked about Mr. O'Neill. I think one of the I don't know anything about, of course, his own background. But of course, one concern that one might have is that this is a person who is very close to Secretary Kennedy. And one of the reasons Susan Molinari was fired was that she did not agree to go with a dictated policy handed down that was not based in science. Do we then say that someone who is close to the secretary will do that? And remember, the confirmation process may take some time and this person may be in that position for for a bit. Well, there's going to be a hearing next week. It may not be before the health committee. RFK jr. Will sit before the senate finance committee. And i suspect that this whole conversation just got a lot more interesting. What will we hear from Democrats? What questions should they be asking when he testifies? Yeah, I think the the biggest thing is what you just laid out. What is what is the health policy of this administration? Is the policy just to go right, which is what we're seeing. We haven't seen a we have this you know, in theory, a major policy is actually a great thing. We are one of the unhealthiest industrialized nations with our obesity rates and chronic diseases. Wonderful to work at. Oh, on that, on those things. But how can that be achieved by completely destroying the public's trust and the infrastructure that we have to work towards that and also reflective of, you know, what Secretary Kennedy said, asking him about what his intentions are in terms of filling those missed posts, the the the loss of the people that we've seen. Now, will he now also aim to fill those positions with people who are not scientists, who don't have qualifications. He's responsible for the nation's health. And. And, Jim, I got to say, you know, I'm I've been around enough that I sure that commercial that says if you go to you go to Meineke you get a muffler, what do we expect We selected anti-vaccine advocate and this is exactly what we're getting which is the main policy of this. HHS seems to be to limit the access of vaccines for the American public.

No schedule data available.

BTV Channel FinderWatch BTV in your area

White House Role Not to Dictate Science: Dr. Bhadelia

Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, Founding Director of Boston University's Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases, & former White House Snr. Policy Advisor for Covid-19 Response, discusses the most recent turn of events at the CDC with the CDC Director Susan Monarez fired by the Trump Administration along with 25% of employees fired and departments removed. Dr. Bhadelia also talks about how various employee resignations will impact the agency and Secretary of Health & Human Services RFK Jr. suggesting the CDC be more aligned with Trump's agenda. She speaks with Joe Mathieu on the late edition of Bloomberg's "Balance of Power." (Source: Bloomberg)