(John Ransom, Headline USA) Critics are incredulous today as the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rochelle Walensky, seemed to indicate in an interview over the weekend that she sets policy by watching reports on CNN.
“When the CNN feed came that it was 95% effective, the vaccine, so many of us wanted it to be helpful, so many of us wanted to say, ‘Ok this is our ticket out,’” Walensky told a live stream that has been posted to Twitter.
While Walensky wasn’t CDC director at the time, it seems a strange way for someone so-well versed to be the top health expert in the country to get her medical news.
Walensky has been in trouble before for fumbling key messages to the American people and thereby failing the trust test.
Walensky: “When the CNN feed came that it was 95% effective, the vaccine, so many of us wanted it to be helpful, so many of us wanted to say, ‘Ok this is our ticket out.’”
Ok… But then you got millions fired and excluded from society for not taking it.pic.twitter.com/Xcl7bUUrOi
— Michael P Senger (@MichaelPSenger) March 5, 2022
Walensky had met for months with a top Democrat media consultant, Mandy Grunwald, to improve her messaging, CNN reported in January.
“This is hard, and I am committed to continue to improve as we learn more about the science and to communicate that with all of you,” Walensky said amid accusations that the CDC was changing the rules and at times putting politics above science.
This newest gaffe, saying she gets her medical news from CNN, won’t help her much, as CNN is a non-trusted source of news for many Americans. Only 17 percent find the outlet credible, the lowest of any major news source at one point, reported Newsweek.
And reports that Walensky took training from a top Democrat media operative, in a position that liberals have continuously said was non-political and just based on science, also will add to the criticism.
“At this point, it’s unclear why Americans should trust scientific institutions like the CDC at all,” noted RedState. “It has been nothing short of a joke for some time, and an unfunny one at that.
“Many Americans have had their lives destroyed due to its guidance, and now we learn that the guidance it put forth was influenced by a network that has no business referring to itself as a legitimate source of news.”
