The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) appears to be in panic mode over its messaging, according to an internal document highlighting the federal agency’s desire to ramp up its vaccine and masking pushes while millions of Americans question the agency’s agenda and the science behind its latest guidance.
The internal document, which the Washington Post obtained, reportedly shows the health agency confessing a need to “revamp its public messaging” to coerce Americans to get vaccinated, touting it as the “best defense against a variant so contagious that it acts almost like a different novel virus.”
According to the outlet, one of the slides featured in the internal presentation points to higher virus risk rates for older age groups than younger — a fact that has remained consistent throughout the pandemic — even among vaccinated individuals.
Per the memo, the CDC is concerned by the line it must walk, because pushing mass vaccinations is the top priority of federal health officials. At the same time, however, it admits the vaccines are not foolproof and estimates roughly 35,000 symptomatic infections per week among vaccinated Americans:
But it also states that the CDC must “improve communications around individual risk among [the] vaccinated” because that risk depends on a host of factors, including age and whether someone has a compromised immune system.
The document includes CDC data from studies showing that the vaccines are not as effective in immunocompromised patients and nursing home residents, raising the possibility that some at-risk individuals will need an additional vaccine dose.
The presentation includes a note that the findings and conclusions are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the CDC’s official position.
The internal document also “contains some of the scientific information that influenced the CDC to change its mask guidance.” This is notable, as the CDC has come under fire for failing to release the specific data on which it based its revamped mask guidance.
Public skepticism, the federal agency continues, is an issue — particularly the narrative that “vaccines no longer work.” Part of the CDC’s mission now, it appears, is moving the goalposts and ultimately, its definition of success.
“We really need to shift toward a goal of preventing serious disease and disability and medical consequences, and not worry about every virus detected in somebody’s nose,” Kathleen Neuzil, a vaccine expert at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said.
However, even prior to the vaccines being available to virtually everyone, the virus survival rate was over 99 percent for individuals 69 and younger:
The Biden administration has also struggled with messaging and has been utterly unable to explain how the CDC’s guidance, instructing vaccinated individuals to mask up, does not undermine their narrative that the vaccine is the answer to return to maskless, pre-pandemic life.
“The public health leaders in our administration have made the determination, based on data, that that is a way to make sure they’re protected,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday after Fox News’s Peter Doocy asked why vaccinated Americans need to mask up, given their narrative that vaccines work.
This week, Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, admitted officials are worried the virus is “a few mutations” away from evading vaccines. altogether.
Meanwhile, Democrats are changing their tune on unvaccinated Americans, as President Biden, as well as Walensky, blame them for new restrictions and mandates. All the while, far-left politicians, such as New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), are admitting that the carrot and stick approach is fading.
“We’ve got to shake people at this point and say ‘c’mon now.’ We tried voluntary. We could not have been more kind and compassionate as a country. Free testing … incentives, friendly warm embrace — the voluntary phase is over,” he said during an appearance on MSNBC this week:
An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey released this month found that a majority of unvaccinated Americans do not plan on getting the shot, indicating their decisions stand firm and are not a result of hesitancy or a matter of convenience, given how widely available the vaccines are.
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