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Vittert: CDC admits its failures, but where’s the apology?

Leland Vittert

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is seen during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to discuss the federal government’s response and future planning for COVID-19 on Thursday, June 16, 2022. (Greg Nash/The Hill)

(NewsNation) — The Center for Disease Control has finally admitted failure.

“For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for COVID-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations,” said CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky while announcing a CDC reorganization Wednesday.


Walensky’s statement is admirable, but it’s an acknowledgement of only half of the problem.

Not only did the CDC fail, but anybody who disagreed over the past 2.5 years got labeled a tin hat-wearing, disinformation-loving, crazy person. That might be a bigger problem.

“My goal is a new, public health, action-oriented culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication and timeliness,” Walensky continued.

Of course, that statement is also half a statement. The other half is, “Please don’t fire me.”

We could do a whole show on the CDC’s and Dr. Anthony Fauci’s failures over the pandemic.
But let’s just do a quick recap of the things science told us that proved wrong:

I know what you are thinking. What about shutting down schools, which did more harm than good? What about masks for kids that made no sense? What about, what about, what about. …  As I said, we could do a whole show.

FILE – A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sign stands at the entrance of their offices in Atlanta on Tuesday, April 19, 2022. On Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022, the head of nation’s top public health agency announced a shake-up of the organization in a bid to respond to ongoing criticism and try to make it more nimble. (AP Photo/Ron Harris, File)

Again, we have nothing personally against Walensky. It’s not getting things wrong, it’s the arrogance after getting so many things wrong.

“Attacks on me quite frankly are attacks on science, because all of the things that I have spoken about consistently from the very beginning have been fundamentally based on science,” Fauci once said.

At least Walensky admits the massive failure. But still no apology to all of us who dared ask questions. It’s OK, we have thick skin. Asking questions is our job.

So here is a new question: Why aren’t things getting any better?

Today we learned the monkeypox vaccine maker can’t meet increased demand for shots. We don’t have time to go through the monkeypox screwups, but here is a short reminder:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Nov. 4, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Let’s go back to the good old days in late May when it wasn’t a risk. President Biden didn’t want to do a quarantine and the CDC said don’t worry.

Today, we have more than 12,000 known cases and testing remains a problem.

Follow me here. The first step in Alcoholics Anonymous is admitting we are powerless over alcohol, and that our lives had become unmanageable.

Is it possible Walensky and Fauci were and are drunk on power and their own TV clips?

Walensky just admitted it.