From “childrenshealthdefense.org”
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, submitted her resignation to the Biden administration Friday, prompting supporters and critics to speak out about her handling of the pandemic.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), submitted her resignation to the Biden administration Friday, The Associated Press reported.
Her last day will be June 30. It is unclear who will lead the agency after her departure.
Walensky did not cite a specific reason for her departure, other than that the waning of the COVID-19 pandemic was a good time to make a transition.
However, The Washington Post reported that White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients “had developed frustrations with Walensky” and met with her earlier this year “to discuss her future in the administration.”
During an agency-wide staff meeting where she made the announcement, she said that she had “mixed emotions” about leaving.
Walensky’s resignation comes on the same day the World Health Organization announced that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, and days before the U.S. public health emergency declaration is set to expire.
Within minutes of her reportedly tearful announcement to her staff, the Biden White House released a statement praising Walensky — who led the agency since the start of the Biden administration — for her “steadfast and unwavering focus on the health of every American,” stating that “she leaves CDC a stronger institution, better positioned to confront health threats and protect Americans.”
Commenting on the news, Laura Bono, acting president of Children’s Health Defense said:
“Dr. Walensky was no friend to public health in general, but those who suffered the most during her tenure are our nation’s children. By the time Walensky signed off on COVID-19 vaccines for infants and children, public health officials knew full well that the virus causes statistically no risk to children, that the vaccines don’t prevent infection or transmission and that the rate of vaccine-related deaths and injuries reported by adults was off the charts.
“Her embrace of draconian pandemic measures for schools and businesses were not based in science and will have lasting, incalculable consequences.”
Some of Walensky’s critics were quick to celebrate her impending departure.
Sasha Latypova posted the “good news” on her Substack that Walensky, whom Latypova called “a co-conspirator behind the deployment of bio-chemical weapons on the Americans and global populations,” had resigned.
Dr. Simon Goddek of the Netherlands tweeted:
Walensky noted in an email to her staff that the agency administered more than 670 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, provided clinical guidance on vaccination and advised schools and businesses throughout the pandemic.
Like Dr. Anthony Fauci, who stepped down at the end of last year, Walensky had come under fire for misrepresenting key scientific knowledge to the American public and in congressional testimony when providing that guidance.
Perhaps most famously, she told MSNBC in March 2021, that based on clinical trials and real-world data gathered by the CDC, people who are vaccinated, “don’t carry the virus and don’t get sick.”
The CDC was forced to walk back her statements a few days later. But that message was still the basis for vaccine mandates later imposed by the Biden administration, businesses, universities and public venues across the country later that year.
Just this week, while testifying at the Senate committee hearing on Preparing for the Next Public Health Emergency, Walensky avoided answering direct questions about top advisers’ role in advising Biden on the mandates.
Chief Nerd tweeted her response to Sen. Mike Braun’s (R-Ind.) question:
In June 2021, Walensky told “Good Morning America” that the risk of myocarditis was extremely rare, and there was overwhelming data the vaccines were safe for children even after hundreds of cases of myocarditis had been reported and the CDC had been aware of a safety signal since February.
Alex Berenson tweeted her comment from that interview:
Under Walensky, the CDC also gave false information on vaccine safety monitoring, added the COVID-19 vaccines to the childhood vaccine schedule despite known harms, withheld data on boosters from the agency’s own advisers and told pregnant women the vaccine was safe — just days after Pfizer reportedly finalized a report demonstrating it wasn’t, among other things that have outraged critics.
Walensky, previously an infectious-diseases specialist at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, had no experience running a government health agency when she was sworn in on the first day of the Biden administration, the AP reported.
She nonetheless developed a reputation as a prominent voice on the pandemic.