Chair wenstrup the select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic will come to order. I want to welcome everyone here today. Without objection, the chair may declare a recess at any time. Pursuant to rule 7d of the committee on oversight and accountability, and at the discretion of chairman comer, mr. Jordan, a member of the full committee may participate in todays hearing for purposes of question. I now recognize myself for the purpose of making an Opening Statement. Today, the select subcommittee is holding a hearing to exam the centers for Disease Control and preventions policies and decisions during the covid19 pandemic. The pandemic sent shock waves through all aspects of american life. School, work, family, sports, and faith. This was a novel virus. There was much we didnt know. And we didnt know how to react. Educated guesses were the best things we could do especially early on. Throughout i maintained hope and what should have and could have united our country but did not instead drove division, unfortunately. I was hopeful that the pandemic could be a Unifying Force for our country and for the world. After all, a common danger unites even the bitterest enemies. Unfortunately, in many ways, our Public Health leadership did not always rise to the occasion. Instead of being a calm and trusted voice of science and reason, the American People often felt let down, often deceived, and left damaged. Director walensky, given how difficult it was to get you here today with the h. H. S. Often negotiating on your behalf, it appears that maybe this administration did not want you to speak regarding these topics. In case you were unaware, nearly 10 weeks ago on april 5, the select subcommittee requested that the c. D. C. Make you available to testify today. May 22, the select subcommittee officially invited you to testify through the negotiation process, the Biden Administration said there was insufficient time for you to prepare. Now, this may even astonish you considering the select subcommittee provided nearly 10 weeks notice. H. H. S. Then rejected two other later dates and provided mr. Moran ill lodge more ill logical thinking. We think you were willing the whole time so i want to thank you personally for being here today. It is, however, curious that the administration tried so hard to hide you from the American People. I suppose someone would want the American People to simply move on. But without review of processes and decisionmaking, its difficult to plan for the future. And there will be a problem, again, in the future. It is the duty of this select subcommittee to ensure that we address failings so were not doomed to repeat them. As well, lets affirm the positive. These are our duties and our obligations. Throughout the pandemic, c. D. C. Published confusing guidance and made divisive and confusing statements and we must talk about these things. Director walensky, you made several of these statements yourself, some that contradicted c. D. C. s official guidance. We have many questions about some of the statements made by several people and directives made and facts that may be contradictory. Beginning with on february 3, 2021, you said, quote, there is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely open reopen and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated, end quote. The next day then White House Press secretary jen psaki said, quote, dr. Walensky spoke about this in her personal capacity, end quote. Thats interesting. You were speaking at a White House Press briefing when you made the statement. The official c. D. C. Logo was behind you. And the transcript is on the white house website. Doesnt sound like personal capacity to me. Seems like the Biden Administration just disagreed with what you were saying. Well ask about that today. On march 29, 2021, dr. Walensky, you also stated, quote, our data from the c. D. C. Today suggests that vaccinated people do not carry the virus, dont get sick, end quote. Three days later, a c. D. C. Spokesman walked this back and said you were speaking broadly and some people who are fully vaccinated might indeed catch covid19. So this raises the question of whether the science supported what you were publicly saying or not. The lack of scientific awareness of the Biden Administration became clear when on july 21, 2021, President Biden made the unequivocal statement, if youre vaccinated, youre not going to be hospitalized. Youre not going to be in the intensive care unit. And you are not going to die. We will ask you about that and are interested in hearing if the data c. D. C. Had at the time supported that statement or if it was made for political or other purposes. At times c. D. C. Seemingly accepted guidance from political organizations instead of relying on the realtime scientific data. At our hearing in april with the American Federation of teachers, president reingarten. A scientist at the c. D. C. Described a. F. T. s level of access as uncommon. Ms. Winegarden testified of having your phone number and received an advanced copy of the full internal draft guidance. And some of her edits were even accepted. This level of access is uncommon. The a. F. T. Even suggested adding a closure trigger to automatically shut schools down. Even though this specific edit was not accepted, the others that were have had some severe consequences. And i believe its appropriate for the a. F. T. To seek c. D. C. Guidance but not to give you or the c. D. C. Medical and scientific advice. Drug use, violence, Mental Health issues, and suicide among our nations children have skyrocketed. While test scores have severely fallen. Some will attempt to undermine the select subcommittees efforts by saying that hindsight is 20 20 or were playing monday morning quarterback. But our role is to investigate the covid19 pandemic. This requires looking back in order to plan ahead. It requires asking questions to evaluate how decisions were made and how they were implemented. And once that is done, we may put forth Solutions Based on facts, not is up positions. I not suppositions. I look forward to an on topic discussion. Honesty is nonnegotiable. Again, i thank you for being here today voluntarily, and i look forward to your testimony. And with that i yield to the Ranking Member, dr. Ruiz, for any Opening Statement he would like to make. Mr. Ruiz thank you, mr. Chairman. And thank you, director walensky, for being here today. As Ranking Member of this select subcommittee, ive often said how important it is that we focus on forwardlooking policy solutions that will leave us better prepared in the event of another deadly novel airborne virus. At the forefront of this work is the nations centers for Disease Control and prevention, which under director walenskys direction, helped guide us out of the darkest days of the covid19 pandemic. Her steadfast leadership mobilized the most successful Vaccination Campaign in our nations history, leading to more than 600 million shots in arms, prevented 18. 5 million hospitalizations, and saved 3. 2 million lives from covid19. Under her leadership, 95 of americas schools that were forced to close during the Previous Administrations failed Pandemic Response safely reopened for inPerson Learning within just one year. And because of her tireless efforts, our nations Public Health workforce was fortified and the c. D. C. Made critical strides to ensure that the American People received accurate, datainformed Public Health guidance that reflected what we knew about an evolving, everchanging pandemic at crucial points in time. I say all this to not only thank dr. Walensky for her service to the nation but also to stress where we were and where we are today because of her leadership. You see, when dr. Walensky began her tenure at the c. D. C. , she inherited a Beleaguered Agency during the pandemics deadliest twomonth stretch on record in the United States. In fact, every day more than 3,000 people in the United States died from covid19. Whats more, dr. Walensky ascended to the role as director not only as the agency was in the midst of battling a deadly novel virus but also as it was suffering from the severe setbacks and damaged morale that resulted from months of political interference by the former president and his administration. Throughout the early months of the pandemic, our nations scientists were sidelined by white house officials and the president s political allies who meddled in c. D. C. s communications, Public Health guidance, and scientific reports. Thats in addition to the president s own downplaying of the coronavirus, which hampered our nations Pandemic Response during one of the deadliest periods in americas history. This political interference and harmful messaging by the former president also manufactured a deep distrust in our nations Public Health institutions. Fundamentally undermining our ability to respond to future threats. That, coupled with the ongoing victimification of Public Health experts with the purpose of advancing a partisan narrative and now were seeing the real and dangerous consequence. In fact, a february, 2022 Pew Research Center report found that fewer than three in 10 adults in the United States now have a great deal of confidence in medical scientists acting in the public interest. As a physician and Public Health expert, this is deeply concerning to me and it should be to us all. Our ability to prevent harm and save lives in the event of another pandemic is intrinsically tied to a strong relationship between our nations Public Health experts and the American People. So where do we go from here . How do we move forward . Now that we are on the other side of this pandemic, thanks to director walensky and the Biden Administrations leadership in delivering vaccines and safely reopening workplaces, schools, and our economy, we have the opportunity to rebuild the trust that has been eroded. We have the chance to right the wrongs of the Previous Administration by identifying and implementing Real Solutions that leave us better prepared in the event of another deadly virus. Solutions like empowering the c. D. C. To promote comprehensive and timely Data Collection and reporting, equipping the c. D. C. With tools and resources necessary to continue rapidly disseminating Accurate Information and guidance to the American Public without political interference, and investing in the c. D. C. So it continue to support its states and local partners in the face of future Public Health threats. It is now that we should work to reinspire confidence in our nations Public Health officials, not continue to vilify, falsify motives and breed distrust in them. It is now that we should continue to assemble a strong Public Health workforce and see through director walenskys vision for the c. D. C. To identify, prevent, and respond to novel viruses and threats more nimbly and it is now we should build on the Biden Administrations progress to bolster whole of government pandemic preparedness so that we can more rapidly respond in a future Public Health crisis. So today, i hope we can make progress on advancing these objectives because if we do, we can and will ensure the nation is better prepared in a future Public Health crisis. And that means future harm will be prevented and more lives will be saved. Thank you and i yield back. Thank you, dr. Ruiz. Our witness today is dr. Rochelle walensky. Dr. Walensky currently serves as director of the centers for Disease Control and prevention. She was previously the chief of division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor of medicine at harvard medical school. Dr. Walensky graduated with a bachelor of arts from Washington University in st. Louis, received a doctor of medicine from John Hopkins School of medicine, and a master of Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. Thank you for being here today. Pursuant to the committee on oversight and accountability rule 9g, the witness will please stand and raise her right hand. Thank you. Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god. Thank you. Let the record show that the witness answered in the affirmative. The select subcommittee certainly appreciates you being here today and we look forward to your testimony. Let me remind the witness that we have read your written statement and it will appear in full in the hearing record. Please limit your oral statement to five minutes. As a reminder, please press the button on the microphone in front of you so it is on and the members can hear you. When you begin to speak, the light in front of you will turn green. After four minutes, the light will turn yellow. When the red light comes on your five minutes have expired and we will ask you please wrap up. I now recognize dr. Walensky to give an Opening Statement. Dr. Walekski thank you. Chairman wenstrup, Ranking Member ruiz, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, it is an honor to be here with you today. I came to c. D. C. In january of 2021 as a practicing Infectious Disease doctor and researcher who had been on the front lines of the pandemic treating patients with covid19. I leave later this month with a great sense of accomplishment, that the Public Health emergency has ended and with an unwavering respect and admiration for the dedicated people across c. D. C. Working every day to protect the health of americans. When i started, c. D. C. Faced enormous challenges. For example, the sharing of data was too slow and often relied on fax machines, which greatly hindered federal, state, and local leaders from having timely access to critical Public Health data. As a nation, we have mourned the loss of more than 1. 1 million family members, neighbors, colleagues, and friends from covid19, and we cannot lose sight of the fact that we are still losing people to this disease every single day. But thankfully we are in a much different place today. The end of the Public Health emergency last month marked a tremendous transition for our country and for Public Health. Now we have the tools we need to protect people in our communities from severe infection and death. Thanks to the work of c. D. C. , our partners in state and local government, the private sector and Frontline Health care workers, more than 676 million doses of vaccines have been administered across the u. S. Saving millions of lives. These vaccines built a wall of protection which dramatically decreased the risk of severe disease and death from covid19. When i started at c. D. C. , just 1 3 of School Districts were offering daily inperson instruction. With my three boys at home with me, getting schools opened was a top priority for me. I, like many of you, recognized the Critical Role that schools play in supporting social, physical, behavioral, emotional, and Mental Wellbeing of our children. In fact, one of the first guidance documents released by c. D. C. Just 23 days after i started was the Operational Strategy for k12 schools through phased mitigation on february 12, 2021. This road map to reopen schools and help them remain open was a result of countless workhours by c. D. C. Staff, along with feedback from over 50 organizations and implementing partners. Organizations and individuals whose engagement we needed, whose participation was essential if School Opening was actually going to happen. And it worked. By the fall of 2021, nearly every School District in the United States opened offered daily inperson instruction. Throughout my tenure as c. D. C. Director, i used the best available and often emerging data to inform realtime policy decisions. Rarely did we see new scientific findings that were immediately and unanimously clear and consistent. But at c. D. C. , we have a strong commitment to acting quickly with transparency when new science gives us better ways to protect the Public Health needs of our most vulnerable. For example, when two studies were released in march of 2021, showing that we could reduce physical distancing in schools from six feet to three feet, we acted to release new updated School Guidance just four weeks after our initial effort. Fortunately, today, we know so much more about this virus than we did when it first emerged, and in 2023, we believe the darkest days of this pandemic are now part of our history. Despite important accomplishments and improvements to our Public Health lab capacities, expanded bolstered Public Health infrastructure, c. D. C. Still has more work to do and i am deeply motivated to make improvements based on what i have seen. I launched an allagency review, c. D. C. Moving forward, in april of 2022, to address the Lessons Learned from covid19, increased accountability, and improve how we deliver information to americans. As c. D. C. Continues this internal work, we need partnership with congress to better position c. D. C. For success. In closing, the rate of infection disease threats i have seen as c. D. C. Director should be a warning to us all. As the nation we failed to heed the lessons from previous disease outbreaks. We are once again faced with opportunity. Collectively, we should focus our work on moving the agency and Public Health forward. Our response to the next infectious threat relies on how we come together and have productive conversations about supporting a more prepared america. I commit to further this goal in my last weeks at c. D. C. And beyond. Its too important and too many lives are at stake. I hope you will continue to work with me and c. D. C. To support sustainable Public Health investments and updated authorities that will protect the security of americans by being better prepared for Tomorrows Health threats. Thank you and i look forward to your questions. Mrs. Lesko thank you, dr. Walensky. I now recognize the chairman of the full committee, mr. Comer from kentucky, for five minutes of questions. Mr. Comer thank you, madam chair. The c. D. C. Frequently communicated with big tech and social Media Companies to coordinate the censureship of criticism of the covid19 vaccines. Dr. Walensky, is there a difference between medical opinions and misinformation . [inaudible] dr. Walekski there are things that are scientifically proven over and over again in the literature and those eventually become facts. I think there are ways to interpret that. Mr. Comer exactly. Reasonable people disagree on the medical path forward, correct . Dr. Walekski yeah. But i would also say when there is increasing science that leads to facts that more and more people than generally agree. Mr. Comer patients often are advised to get a Second Opinion on medical advice. C. D. C. Records, however, show they flag social media posts which they deem to be misinformation. My question is do the c. D. C. Work with private companies to support the krens sureship about dissent about vaccines. Dr. Walensky that topic is one under litigation of the courts so i wont be speaking to that. Mr. Comer recently meta c. E. O. Mark zuckerberg said the establishmented waffled a bunch of facts and asked those to be censured and ended up being more debatable than true. Did the c. D. C. Work with meta, id like to facebook, to censure or alter any posts . Dr. Walensky i will say this. The most important thing that gotten out of this pandemic is our vaccine and howl they work and how mr. Comer i understand that. Dr. Walensky and its important for the American People to understand how it works. And understand it. In terms of the communication, that is, again, something i am not going to speak to because its currently in court. Mr. Comer you wont answer the question . Dr. Walensky it is in court litigation. Mr. Comer i hear that. Did the president take a bribe, its currently under investigation. Did the c. D. C. Ever work with facebook to craft internal policies on censuring posts regarding the covid pandemic . Dr. Walensky it is under court litigation. I will say its important to get correct, factual information out to people to understand the overwhelming benefit of these vaccines over the very mr. Comer what about twitter . Dr. Walensky again, under court mr. Comer you refuse to answer it . Dr. Walensky it is under court litigation. I will say the most important thing we were working at c. D. C. Is to get the facts out to the American People so they understand in plain language. Mr. Comer s facebook policy dated february 8, 2021, said it would purge, quote, false claims, including the notion that covid19 is manmade or manufactured. Director, did the c. D. C. Ever recommend that facebook or other companies censure posts about the Lab Leak Theory . Dr. Walensky we are speaking about the same thing. They are under court litigation. Mr. Comer did the c. D. C. Suggest that it did not dr. Walensky whats important to the c. D. C. Is to get the information out how well the vaccines are working and how safe they are. Many of the questions all of the questions youre asking are along the same lines. They are currently under litigation in the courts. Mr. Comer in one email a c. D. C. Official tells a twitter employee that, quote, c. D. C. Is working on a project with census to leverage the infrastructure to identify and monitor social media for vaccine misinformation, end quote and they would, quote, like the opportunity to work with twitters trust team on a regular basis to discuss what theyre seeing, end quote. So director, did the c. D. C. Work on a regular basis with twitter and other companies to monitor or censure vaccine misinformation . Dr. Walensky congressman, my answer is the same. Its the same line of questioning. We wanted to get Important Information out to the people so they would favor vaccines because they were working. They were preventing severe disease and death. Mr. Comer i understand. But it turns out that some of the perspectives that the government censured like the Lab Leak Theory and some questions about the vaccine were correct all along. But the government censured that. A lab leak is possible. I will go even further to say the lab leak is probable. Even some in the government have admitted that. The vaccine did not stop spread or infection. Im not saying it was completely bad, but it did not stop the spread or infection. Dr. Walensky i think if i could actually just correct that point and that is initially it did. For the wuhan strain and for the alpha strain, all of the early data and literature published in the new england journal demonstrated for those that worked, if you didnt get infected, you were not transmitting it to other people and it has very high efficacy early on, up to 96 . It did change over time. Mr. Comer i hate to interrupt but my time has expired. Thats something this committee will investigate. With respect to censorship, censoring the opinions is unacceptable and thats Something Else that this select committee needs to investigate. We dont need to see that ever happen again. I look forward to trying to present the truth to the American People about what role the government played in censoring dissenting medical opinions, which may well prove to be true. Madam chair, yield back. Chair lesko thank you. I now recognizes the Ranking Member, dr. Ruiz from california, for five minutes of questions. Mr. Ruiz dr. Walensky, when you took the helm at the c. D. C. Our nation was in the dark days of the pandemic. More than 3,000 people were dying of covid19 each day. The federal government was stumbling in the race to get as many shots in arms as the coronavirus surged. Our Health Care Work forces endured months of unparalleled strain and americas faith in our public constitution was battered by the Previous Administrations reckless mishandling and politicization of the pandemics response. And these narratives that somehow it was american funded bioweapon made from china and purposely released from a lab in order to harm the world. But you hit the ground running, you brought fresh energy and renewed commitment to the c. D. C. s mission of leading with science to protect our nations health. As a result of your leadership, speak for themselves, those results, within weeks of you stepping into your new role, the c. D. C. Issued comprehensive guidance that meticulously laid out schools and communities can swiftly return kids to the classrooms. One year into your tenure, the number of students who return to fulltime in Person Learning more than doubled. With 95 of kids back in classrooms by january, 2022. What role did c. D. C. s guidance play in paving the way for the safe resumption of inPerson Learning across the United States . Chair wenstrup thank you dr. Walensky thank you, dr. Ruiz. So much of what we did in getting the guidance out and let me just emphasize the most important thing you can see by the fact that we released 23 days after i started was getting our children back to school. Hi three of my own kids hi three of my own kids at home i had three of my own kids at home. I wanted them back to school. The whole point was to get schools opened and safely reopened. We did that through layered mitigation. At a time vaccines were were not available for children. We were rolling out vaccines across the country. It was essential this layered mitigation. What was essential was getting feedback from our partners. We did a lot of engagement, listening a lot of the religious and policy lakers either succeed or fail in the field due to implementation problems. So its only prudent for the implementers to be consulted with to ensure that any recommendation will be followed and will actually work. During your tenure as c. D. C. Director, you also work closely with your colleagues at various levels of government to institute the most Sweeping Campaign in americas history. The federal government facilitated getting more than 600 million covid19 shots in arms. This Historic Campaign protected tens of millions of americans from the threat of severe covid19 and death. During your tenure, how did c. D. C. Work with government and Community Partners to right the ship on the covid19 vaccine rollout, and turn the tide on the pandemic . What were the biggest two Lessons Learned . First we didnt have a infrastructure to support the rollout. We still dont have an active infrastructure. That is something i would request from congress we have vaccine for Adults Program so we can roll out vaccines again in the future. We worked across all of government, private sector, private partners, we had a federal Pharmacy Program that was able to reach people where they were. We worked on equity initiatives. The biggest divide was across rural and urban divides that we were not reaching as well urban people. So we had to do that. We worked with communitybased organizations, faithbased organizations. This was an all hands on deck approach. Approach. A mr. Ruiz your departure comes at a time transition for the nation. Under the Biden Administration leadership we emerged from the darkest days of the peblgd and now tasked with the Critical Mission of preventing and preparing for future threats to our Public Health. This is not the time to let up on the gas pedal. Instead, its our time to recommit to the commission of empowering and investing in americas Public Health institutions which work on the frontlines of emerging threats to keep us safe. As we look to the future, what are the two Actions Congress should take to have the greatest impact in ensuring the c. D. C. Is equipped to get ahead of the next potential pandemic . Dr. Walensky it would be in my mind a focus on data. Our data highways, when the systems are coming n we need resources for our data highways and authority so we can see the data that are coming and act nimbly in real time. Thats one. Second in my mind would be expanded work force authorities if we are expected to be a opponentsbased agency we have the authorities of other responsebased agencies. Direct higher authorities, overtime authority, danger pay, those authorities of things. Mr. Ruiz these are the critical things we should work towards building and the accusations without evidence that are oftentimes made out of context go so that we can actually work on the important priority things that will save lives. With that i want to thank you. Dr. Walensky, for the tireless dedication you have shown to americas Public Health during your tenure and time today. I yield back. Chair lesko i now recognize myself for questions. Again, dr. Walensky, thank you for being here. I feel certain there is much we can learn Going Forward based on many of your experiences and your predecessors experience that is we can come forward with better plans in the future. Chair wenstrup on march 28 the select subcommittee sent you a document requesting document requesting regarding the drafting of the c. D. C. s february 2021 School Reopening guidance, particularly when any outside groups exerted uncommon influence over the process. April 26, the select subcommittee held a hearing with the president of the American Federation of teachers, and on june 1 for two months the c. D. C. Tkpaeulg to produce a single document, we had follow up on the march 28 letter. This investigation is a priority to the select subcommittee as you kimm imagine. Today as you can imagine. All we connection spebgt is honesty. Do you commit as director of the c. D. C. And speaking for the c. D. C. To fully cooperate with the document request . Dr. Walensky i certainly commit. I know we have been working with you. I commit to working with you to act in good faith and get you the documents we can. Chair wenstrup i appreciate that. We need to see them. Do you commit as director of the c. D. C. In speaking for the c. D. C. To make employees available for transcribed interviews . Dr. Walensky again, this is something i am committed to working with the c. D. C. In good faith efforts to do our best to get you the information and talk to people you request. Chair wenstrup its really important. Really important to talk to people in the trenches and to understand what was going on good, bad, or indifferent. Large part of this investigation is whether the teachers unions or other political groups received preferential treatment from the c. D. C. Or the Biden Administration. If these groups advocated for measures that would unscientifically keep schools shuttered. Thats a concern. Im going to ask a series of questions. I know sometimes challenging to just answer something yes or no. I am going to ask you to do that if you would. Director, did the American Federation of teachers provide suggested edits to the c. D. C. s february 2021 School Opening guidance, including a trigger to automatically close schools that, if implemented, would have kept more schools closed an kids out of the classroom . Dr. Walensky they were interested in having closure triggers. That was my understanding. Chair wenstrup your answer was yes. Dr. Walensky they were not accepted, of course. Our full goal was getting the schools opened. If you recognize our guidance, we had layered mitigation strategies to keep our schools opened. This was about keeping schools opened. This was not about triggers to close them. Chair wenstrup i appreciate that. If they suggested closure trigger run contrary to the prevailing science and data at that time . Dr. Walensky this was something where we had layered mitigations to strategies in the operational guidance to keep our schools open. This was, again, it was all very locally based. Depending on local Community Transition, etc. Again our goal was not to talk about School Closure triggers. Our goal in the guidance was to keep them opened. Chair wenstrup i appreciate what you said whats going on locally. Thats one of the real Lessons Learned here. In medicine in particular you had counties with no case what is over, and people were being denied their medical care. So there are a lot of things to consider there. And i appreciate that you didnt accept one of the things because in my mind the science and data was contrary to some of those the trigger, if you would. To be clear, the c. D. C. Did not implement the closure trigger that the a. F. T. Advocated for, correct . Dr. Walensky correct. Chair wenstrup it was unwarranted, correct . Dr. Walensky because that was not the goal of the guidance. It was to get schools opened and keep them opened. That was not where we were looking. Just to keep in mind, this was january, 2021, many schools were closed. This is what i inherited when i stepped into. My kids were home with me. The whole point was safe reopening, remaining reopening of schools. Chair wenstrup im with you. I remember january, 2021 quite well. I have children also. Grade school children. I get it. I want to shiftle to statement you made on february shaeuplt you made on february third 2021. There is increasing data to suggest schools can safely reopen. And that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated. Vaccinations of teachers is not a prerequisite for safely reopening schools, end quote. The same day, the white house stated that you were speaking in your personal capacity. Quote end quote. On personal capacity. Again, just yes or no. Were you speaking in your personal capacity when you made that statement . Dr. Walensky whenever i have been speaking to congress, to the media, press conferences during my tenure at c. D. C. I have been speaking in my professional capacity. Chair wenstrup thank you. Was that your position based off the available science and your own knowledge and experience . Dr. Walensky just to be clear, there were limited amounts of vaccine doses at the time. There was a prioritization to ultimately several weeks later for teachers to get vaccinated. I do think teacher vaccination if we had all the other phi layers of mitigation strategies available that that was not the only thing that needed to keep schools closed. Schools could open without teachers being vaccinated. There were data and literature people in health care were working already. Chair wenstrup many people were. Dr. Walensky yes. Chair wenstrup why do you think the white house contradicted you, then, or tried to change it from professional to personal . Dr. Walensky that is something i cant speculate to. Ask them. Chair wenstrup thats fair. On june 21, 2021 President Biden stated quote, if you are vaccinated you are not going to be hospitalized. You are not going to be in the intensive care unit. You are not going to die, end quote. Again, simply yes or no, by that date were there vaccinated americans that were hospitalized . Dr. Walensky what can i tell you that at the time c. D. C. Was releasing increasing data showing the immense protection of vaccines against severe disease, hospital stkaoeugs and death. Chair wenstrup were there vaccinated americans that were hospitalizeed . Dr. Walensky maybe ill say this. We still to this day do not have data on people who are coming into the hospital who were vaccinated. Thats a data point we lacked. Chair wenstrup i appreciate you saying that. That is another thing we need to look into closely and to do better Going Forward. I will say this, believe me, as a physician, i was watching what was going on. We were first looking out to try to see how do we treat this thing . What is going on . What blood work can we do . Ily. 6. Your inflammatory markers. There were no tests. And we were trying to we did pay very close attention to the trials of operation warp speed. And it was fascinating to be a part of that in some way. We would meet with dr. Fauci, dr. Collins. We knew from the trials that people who got vaccinated still got covid. In general they didnt get as sick as less likely to be hospitalized. And therefore less likely to die. But it was still happening. Ill ask you the question, the best to your knowledge, had any passed away . When you make that statement in june of 2021 . Dr. Walensky let me offer thank you for your work. Many videos of you doing vaccine clinics. Yourself. I want to thank you for your efforts there. It was much what i will say my understanding of the initial Clinical Trials that were released in november, december before i became c. D. C. Director was 96 protection against symptomatic disease. We never say never in medicine. Chair wenstrup exactly. Thank you. Thats the problem i have with this statement from the leader of the free world. To Say Something so definitive, you are not going to be hospitalized. Even in the trials people were hospitalized. You are not going to the i. C. U. As a definitive statement. That was misinformation. That was divisive. That was dangerous. And it puts you in a very hard spot. It put you in a very hard spot as you are to be the leading voice for america. And i applaud so many of the things that you have done and did do. But this is a problem. Thats the point im trying to make. We cannot let this happen. We have to let science be the science. In my opinion we should have been hearing from the doctors who treated covid patients, not politicians, not someone in the lab. One more question. Just to be honest. We novak sinnations save lives, its not perfect, there were breakthrough cases, and there were deaths. We have to do better Going Forward. I now recognize the Ranking Member of the full committee, mr. Raskin from maryland, for five minutes the questions. Mr. Raskin dr. Walensky, are you a graduate of Churchill High School inful montgomery, maryland, and they are proud of your devotion and commitment to the Public Health and public education. In october of 2022, the select subcommittee on the coronavirus led by chairman clyburn, which i served on, uncovered a deliberate campaign by the then leader of the free world, former President Trump and his associates, to distort and politicize the c. D. C. s covid19 Public Health response before the 2020 president ial election. This disinformation strategy is best described by trumps only political appointees, President Trumps covid19 coordinator, dr. Burks famously told america the Trump Administration could have prevented hundreds of thousands of deaths from covid had it acted effectively to address the epidemic. Stated that dr. Scott atlas, another trump appointee, quote, was overly mixing Public Health and politics by advocating the idea that case identification is bad for the president s reelection. Dr. Paul alexander, a trump appointee, former senior policy advisor in c. D. C. s office of Public Affairs said this, heres the issue. If the communication is less it was just a statement that minority groups, sic, are at higher risk on its face, this is very accurate. However, in this election cycle thats the kind of statement come interesting c. D. C. That the media and democrat antagonist will use against the president. Each time we talked about these deaths we need to at the time nation why these deaths happened. This was due to decades of democrat neglect. President trump and his allies not only spread medical disinformation about quack medical cures like chloroquine and insecting yourself with bleach, but they lied to the American People for their own political benefit. In discussing the importance of getting accurate scientific information about covid out to the people from c. D. C. , dr. Martin, director of the division of global migration and quarantine, told the Senate Select subcommittee during a transcribed interview, quote, there are people no longer with us that would have been fitted from that benefit interested that kind of very clear messaging. Dr. Walensky, do you agree that accurate sciencebased Public Health guidance would have saved lives that we lost during the covid19 epidemic . Dr. Walensky that has been my goal. Thank you. Go, bulldogs. That has been my goal since i got here is to provide the most uptodate information that we have. Tell people what we know, what we dont know. Tell people that things may change if we have a new variant, for example mr. Raskin why is that your goal why is it important to get accurate scientific information based to the people. Dr. Walensky thats how they make their own riskbased decision. They are making their decisions and doing it from what they here from scientific efforts in the field. Mr. Raskin you want them to make scientificallybased decisions because that will protect their own health. Dr. Walensky of course. Mr. Raskin if the government is involved in pugt out distorted information or propaganda or disinformation, it is going to undermine the Public Health. Dr. Walensky that was among the challenges as i came in. And among the challenges that have been discussed this morning. Mr. Raskin what kind of challenges in terms of staff morale and public trust did you inherent when you became the c. D. C. Director . Dr. Walensky we have an agency, that works 24 7 to protect americans. We have people who were repelling out of helicopters to drop test kids on kits on the diamond princess. They have gone doortodoor in ohio during the derailment for hours on end. We are people working in centers doing Infection Control and they are now seeing the vitriol splashed across the pages of the work they are doing. Their job is to work 24 7 to protect the nation and protect health. And we do that through all of those activities and through releasing science. And when they are undermined, you see risk to their lives. You see people leaving i think there is an estimate about half of Public Health workers across this country have left the field because they have been threatened. That does not help Public Health in this country. Mr. Raskin i thank you to your devotion for getting scientific facts out of the people in sur paout of the Public Health. If Donald Trumps apologists are worried about plummeting confidence in government, and in Public Health, they should look at the lies and manipulations of the facts that were engineered by donald trump and his administration in their spectacularly failed response to covid19. Aid like to ask unanimous consent to enter into the record an october, 2022 report titled, it was compromise, the Trump Administrations Unprecedented Campaign to control c. D. C. And politicize Public Health during the Coronavirus Crisis that was authored in the last congress, mr. Chairman. Chair wenstrup without objection. Mr. Raskin i yield back. Chair wenstrup the gentleman yields. Now recognize dr. Millermeeks from iowa for five minutes of questions. Mrs. Millermeeks thank you, mr. Chair. Dr. Walensky, nice to see you tkpwhepb. Thank you for testifying before the committee today. Let me just be the diplomat in the room and say both administrations failed the United States public in its response to the pandemic and that is why we are having this hearing. Thank you, chair wenstrup, for conducting it and for the questions that you have asked and have posed for us to ask so that our next response to the next pandemic, which we know is coming, is better and we are bert prepared for t as you know this select subcommittee held a hearing in april on the consequences of School Closures in which randy wine tkpwarton testified tkpwarten testified as the only wince. She denied coordination between the American Federation for teachers and supported the scientific expertise that her union offered, one covid transmission rates among children. Her experts did not consider the american journal of pediatrics findses that children were poor transmitters of the virus or the gatt data from sweden for children death as. Or the fact that the schools were opened in europe. Or the fact that there were schools, private schools and public schools, that were opened here in the United States. My state in iowa had reopened schools in august of 2020. Lets not forget the American Federation for teachers is not a scientific body. Data showed not only are children poor transmitters of the virus, they are also unless they are high risk at very low risk for hospitalization and death. The c. D. C. Is supposed to be the nations leading sciencebased Communicable Diseases agency. Not preventible medical diseases or climate change. Those things are very important. With Public Health being the number one goal. Especially as related to Communicable Diseases. At multiple points during the pandemic the c. D. C. Issued not only confusing guidance that was seemingly not based on real world data or evidence, but blatantly false information that fundamentally and permanently damaged peoples lives and led to loss of trust. Having been the former director of state of Public Health, i admire your commitment to your agency and staff. I had the same to my agency and staff. I also know how extraordinarily difficult the job is that we do, bringing science into the real world and making decisions and recommendations for individuals to follow. This occurred in the form and our response to the pandemic and response to lockdowns and shut downs occurred in the form of Mental Health decline, learning loss, economic instability, and a loss of trust and some of our premiere institutions. Among one of the c. D. C. s pandemic failure was the guidance on School Closures. I understand what youre saying here today was that there were certain things that you declined to act upon with triggers. But there were other things were recommendations were seemingly followed at the c. D. C. s guidance. On february 12, 2021, c. D. C. Issued update guidance on School Operational capacity, which effectively condoned the continued closure of schools. Whether it was tacit condonement or implied. Again, this was despite clear data that showed children, especially within elementary schools, were not super spreaders and teachers were no more susceptible to infection or death than those in any other profession. At which people were working. You also said that you looked and that you wanted to have the most uptodate data and that it was locally based. So we wondered did you use real world evidence . Was this brought in to bear on what your recommendations were . After the april hearing, ms. Wine tkpwarten i received a letter from her lawyer at a. T. F. Which among other things said i belittled the scientific expertise available to the a. F. T. He supported his claim by leaking an article that discussed covid19 transmissions in households, not schools, and suggested i keep an open mind and show some humility. Those things have not been previously described to me. However, i would like to enter these both into testimony. The article by which the submitting on covid19 transmissions and households from june of this year. So it would not have been available as scientific data. Mr. Chairman, i ask unanimous consent to enter this letter and article into the record. Chair wenstrup without objection. Mrs. Millermeeks can you explain to the committee what data the c. D. C. Reviewed when developing the School Reopening guidance. Whether the c. D. C. Considered the american journal of pediatric study, or sweden, or iceland. And did you consider data and information from School Systems that were already opened in developing the guidance . Additionally will you admit that covid transtransmission in schools, especially elementary, was low enough to not justify School Closures . Dr. Walensky thank you so much for that question, dr. Millermeeks. As part of our scientific brief when we released to be clear it was not a document to close schools. Many of the schools were already closed. This is guidance to get them opened and keep them opened. In the scientific reset went along with that operational guidance we had reviewed publish cautions from the u. K. , israel, switzerland, norway, and more. Can i tell you there was not a lot of published data from sweden. There was a study subsequently from sweden that demonstrated sweden schools that had in Person Learning, teachers had twice the infection rates as those that had closed. I can also tell you by late spring the sweden had actually overwhelmed hospitals and ultimately decided to close the schools for people who were over the age of 13. We did absolutely look at data from other countries as we were doing this. Again part of the operational guidance, you speak to what happened in iowa, part of the operational guidance was to look at your local community transmission. If your local Community Transition is low, we encourage our kids to get back to school. That was the point as has been noted before. I also want to highlight that the American Academy of pediatrics at the time supported our guidance when it was released. So we had support from not only Public Health workers throughout c. D. C. As our guidance we had done a lot of engagement when with our partners and implementing partners. We had support from the american pediatrics, thank you. Chair wenstrup i now recognize mr. M mfume from maryland for five minutes of questions. Mr. Mfume i thank you and the Ranking Member for calling this hearing. Director walensky, thank you for being here with us. Just a couple of things and some thoughts and maybe one or two questions. We seem to always think about the pandemic as if it were some great big novel that had chapters. As we read it we knew what to expect. We did not know what to expect with this. We were operating in real time. I have said that at each beginning much each one of these hearings, its so easy to go back and to be a monday morning quarterback or to claim to be doing the kind of investigative work that we are sure about the outcomes. This was real. And the fact that Health Care Workers have left in droves because we bastardized what they have done. We made them feel bad. We deemed their efforts not worthy of what they should have done in our opinion. We question their tenacity. We keep always making this reference, the European Countries without doing all the proper research. Transmission rates in European Countries were not apples to apples when compared to the u. S. Its important to say that. I know its novel and interesting and quick to say they did this in germany, france, sweden, etc. Just the fact that even in sweden as we just heard, infection rates for teachers was some of the highest rates that were being recorded. Its oftentimes good to pump the brakes and to recognize that we were all fortunate enough to get through a very debilitating crisis as a nation. And that what we probably should be doing is looking to the future, not back at the past. We have examined that 100 times if perhaps next year Something Like this happens again what do we do and how do we do it. Direct walensky, im glad you are hear. I hope you use this as an opportunity to be able to express yourself in a way that you may have been constrained previously. We want to congratulate you on your work that you have taken mart in and part in and led so many others in. Thank you for your accomplishments. I want to correct and affirm the record when i can. In your time as director of the centers for Disease Control you got safe School Openings of 100,000 schools and distributed the vaccine to 200 million americans. You increased the aggregate number of covid tests to almost one billion. Funded medical research by directing your own budget internally to do the things that were very, very important. And put in place an organizational structure thats much nimbler with a greater response time. We really should be saying congratulations from this committee. None of us had that task. We know we are all here now with the microscope, when you are in it and in the ring, you have to figure out what to do and being measured every day, its a tough, tough job. I am particularly interested in your work to address disparate Health Outcomes and advance Health Equity. We have seen among affected populations just all sorts of things that cry out for greater attention. In your tenure as director you established the updated office of Health Equity, is that correct . Thank you for that. You led the development of c. D. C. s new Equity Center data system. Thank you for that. And for the first time in the c. D. C. History, you account now for social factors that have an impact on health such as where people live and what their income, race, age, access to health care. Thank you again for that. Painfully we have learned that during the Public Health crisis we have to be able to identify as well as care for the most vulnerable among us. And collecting and organizing that data will be critical, i believe, towards identifying vulnerable populations and ensuring their ability and to have resources and to thrive. I would ask you, though, if you could just take a moment in your own words and tell us what you think, quite frankly, are some of the things that we should be looking at as a legislative body. What legislation, legislative ideas, would you suggest to this committee on the record that we, perhaps, could and should look at to begin the process of modernizing the countrys data reporting system and how this change might, in fact, improve outcomes for vulnerable populations. Dr. Walensky thank you so much for that. So much of what we are doing in c. D. C. Moving forward and our office of Health Equity has been work we can do internally. We really do need your support. For example, i spoke earlier about our data systems. We have data doesnt come to us, necessarily, with race and ethnicity data. If we cant see those data we have or rural, urban data, zip code, if we cant see where there is detperbency, lack of access, lack of vaccinations happening we dont know where to tailor our efforts. There are two things that need to happen in that regard. One is we have to stop using fax machines to get date kwro to c. D. C. We need resources for data highways. Many of those resources are going out to jurisdictions. 3,000 jurisdictions reporting data to us. If those data highways are flowing, then we can southeast data and give it back so county a knows whats happening next door in county b. Its the case we dont have the authority to we act voluntarily, receive data voluntarily. That means it comes in a nonstandardized fashion. It doesnt come in with all the information we want. We didnt know the race and ethnicity of people getting empath or getting the vaccine. We need some data authorities so we can act nimbly. So that we can actually intentionally put resources where they are needed. The other is our work force authorities. We have talked a lot about the attrition and Public Health work force and Health Care Work force. Tax exempt loan repayment for example. Direct hire authorities, fellowship hire authorities, danger pay. The fact we have people in the nation working but not receiving danger pay. These are all some of the authorities that a nimble responsebased agency should have. Mr. Mfume thank you. My time has expired. Chair wenstrup i recognize mis. Lesko from arizona for questions. Mrs. Lesko in an april 26 hearing with American Federation of teachers, randy winetkpwarten, we learned that she has in your direct phone number. This is particularly interesting because of some of the nearly srer bay tisch verbatim language in addition to the c. D. C. School guidance you took from the American Federation of teachers. Dr. Walensky, do you maintain an official government and personal cell phone . Dr. Walensky i do. May i also comment that mrs. Lesko i have several questions. Does ms. Winegartner have your official or personal cell phone numbers or both . Dr. Walensky i believe she has both. Mrs. Lesko have you ever exchanged Text Messages with her . Dr. Walensky i have. Mrs. Lesko were these texts on your official or personal bones tpo epbs or both . Dr. Walensky i would have to go back and check t may be both. I would also say i recognize that as part of the mrs. Lesko i have several questions. Were these texts in furtherance of official business or about the business of the c. D. C. . Dr. Walensky i imagine i would have to go back and look. Mrs. Lesko the select subcommittee is in possession of about five Text Messages between yourself and ms. Winegartner, are there more . Dr. Walensky there are hundreds of foia requests. Im not privy to alt details of the ones you have. I will say mrs. Lesko have you deleted Text Messages to or from her . Dr. Walensky i am aware of the requirements for retention of these records and i am mrs. Lesko have you ever deleted any . Dr. Walensky no. Mrs. Lesko you said earlier that the c. D. C. s goal is to get out the most Accurate Information and the most timely most recent great or something to that effect. I looked at the c. D. C. s website. Its titled, use maps to slow the spread of covid19. It specifically said masking is a critical Public Health tool and it is important to remember that any mask is better than no mask. Wear the most protective mask you can that fits well and wear consistently. Wearing a high kpwault mask along with vaccination, selftesting, and physical distancing helps protect you and others by reducing the chance of spreading covid19. Dr. Walensky, why arent you and your staff Wearing Masks . Dr. Walensky we have guidance on our website that says mask wearing can be related to our hospitalization levels, local hospitalization levels. Right now over 99 of counties mrs. Lesko you say on your own masking website on the c. D. C. . Dr. Walensky there is a link to our hospitalization levels to say when you should think about Wearing Masks. We also have in their people can and should wear masks whenever it is they please. Their people in this room Wearing Masks. It gives guidance to the people mrs. Lesko your own website, you give out the most recent information, data, your own website has this that says you should wear a mask in addition to vaccinations. Yet you and your staff are not Wearing Masks. I dont understand. Dr. Walensky our website has context. There is a link to our community hospitalization levels. And those hospitalization levels give recommendations on where to mask. Mrs. Lesko thats not on this simple page that the public sees. May i suggest that you update your own c. D. C. Website about masks. Thank you. I yield back. Chair wenstrup now recognize ms. Ross from North Carolina for five minutes of questions. Ms. Ross thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Dr. Walensky, i really appreciate you being here today. And throughout the hearing, including just recently, we have heard some accusations about your stewardship at the c. D. C. During the pandemic. And even since the pandemic officially ended last month. Before i get to my questions, id like to give you a moment to respond to anything that you would like to get on the record. If youd like to take a minute to share anything. Dr. Walensky thank you. What i will say is our goal has always been to give the most accurate data to be science based to get our kids back to school, to do so in a manner, to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of our vaccines, and promote vaccination, which has been instrumental in getting us out of this pandemic. Thank you. Ms. Ross thank you. Im particularly grateful for your efforts to take the lessons that we have learned during the covid19 pandemic and use them to inform forwardlooking policies that will make our country better prepared for the next pandemic that we know is coming. This includes spearheading the reorganization of the c. D. C. To transform the agency into a more streamlined nimble organization that is poised to tackle Public Health threats as soon as they arrive. For example, under your leadership the c. D. C. Has stood up the certainty for outbreak analytics, to forecast Infectious Disease outbreaks and inform policymakers in real time. We have already seen the puck ses of this Initiative Success of this initiative in combating outbreaks. Could you speak a word about the center and what it is doing to monitor and respond to emerging threats, including novel virus outbreaks with pandemic potential . Dr. Walensky thank you so much for the opportunity. I am particularly proud of the center for forecasting outbreaks analytics, not only because of the work they do antiway they are grown, but because they are getting the best of the best in academia and private sector to do this work. This is a place people want to come. There are three core missions. They are looking at predict, inform, and innovate. How do we do, how can we get that information out locally . Among the success that is we have seen already we talked about our modeling the potential spread and severe severity of disease. We saw early publication, one of the pheurs in the country on the severity of omicron. Four or five technical reports on mpox and the severity. And then we are looking at what we are doing locally with Public Health officials. This is going to be a shining star. It already is a shining star among the great stars we have at c. D. C. In trpls of our ept terms of our centers and i look forward to their continued growth. Im grateful for the support to do so. Thank you. Ms. Ross thank you. Id like to briefly discuss, you touched on this, c. D. C. Moving forward which is focused on creating more agile, streamlined agencies that can more effectively respond to a future Public Health threat. You launched this Initiative First with a program attic review of the systems. Why is it important for to you conduct this review . How did its result inform your plan to modernize the c. D. C. . Dr. Walensky this is critically important. April of 2022 we were just coming out of a massive overwhelm kron omicron wave. We learned a lot. In c. D. C. 76year history had a once in 100 year pandemic. The question was how do we take the lessons immediately learned and apply them so that we can be the Public Health agency of the few taoufrplt we learned a lot. We needed to move our science faster. Im proud to say since i have been at c. D. C. Our science is is getting out 50 faster than it used to. We needed to work in our partners. We continue to do that. We need to have a responsebased agency. We are expected to be a sciencebased agentcy we also need to be a responsebased agency. We need to communicate well to the American People. We were really used to having our audience be Public Health workers and Health Care Workers. Now all of a sudden people were coming to c. D. C. Webb site and felt they knew who we were. We needed to have Communication Strategies to the American People. To that end among the things we are doing is we have 200,000 webpages on the c. D. C. Webb site. We are streamlining them down in a project called operation clean slate so we have the most important tailored information to the American People in our Public Health partners. Ms. Ross thank you. I yield back. Chair wenstrup i now recognize dr. Joyce from pennsylvania for five minutes of questions. Mr. Joyce thank you, chairman women strupl, and Ranking Member ruiz for convenienting this subcommittee today. Thank you, dr. Walensky for appearing before us today. As members of this select subcommittee its incumbent upon us to uncover the truth behind the destructive covid19 pandemic. And the flawed policies implemented by our nations Public Health officials. Millions of lives were lost. Families were destroyed. Businesses and livelihoods across our country were crushed. All while the uncertainty of the panic ensued. In these moments of uncertainty, those who swore both to protect often look to their elective officials, to their community leaders, and pun lick Health Organizations for guidance. However, misguidance, erroneous, and often confusing policies were implemented. Contradictory statements were made by the same officials charged with tkpwaoeugd the public through this widespread health emergency. This virus and related government policy led to vaccine mandates, lost jobs, supply chain problems, and the isolation of our nations young people. In order to protect our constituents and the American Public from future pandemics, we are working to understand the truth behind the coronavirus pandemic. We have wait add long time for the waited a long time for the answers. On march 29, 2021 you appeared on the raeufped maddox show, you said i am kwaoeting, our data from the c. D. C. Today suggest that is vaccinated people do not carry the virus. Dont get sick, and its just not in the Clinical Trials but its also in real world data, unquote. Yet three days later, on april 1 of 2021, a c. D. C. Spokesperson had to walk back your own words and officially told the New York Times that, again im quoting, dr. Walensky spoke broadly during this interview. Its possible that some people who are fully vaccinated could get covid19. The evidence isnt clear whether they can spread the virus to others. We are continuing to evaluate the evidence. Dr. Walensky, simply yes or no. Does a spokesperson from the c. D. C. Going on record and correcting the statements that you made undermine and fracture the confidence in c. D. C. s leadership . Dr. Walensky dr. Joyce, i know you know that i was speaking in generalities. We saw data and thaefd was over 90 the vaccines were effective in preventing severe disease and death and symptomatic disease. Once people had been vaccinated, even if they were to get infected, they were not getting sick and they were not able to transmit to others. Mr. Joyce you stated that vaccinated people, im quoting, do not carry the virus. This fractures and undermines the confidence in your leadership. The c. D. C. Is the nations leading sciencebased Data Driven Service organization, its mission is to protect Public Health. During the pandemic there was continuously a countrywide perception of the shift about nature and risks of covid. This is underscored by those inconsistencies in messaging. Unfortunately in your messaging. Including a c. D. C. Spokesperson who had to walk back comments that you yourself made on television. In fact, it could be said that these inconsistencies led to the findings of a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, quoting, 57 of u. S. Adults say false and misleading information about the coronavirus and vaccines had contributed to the problems that the country has faced dealing with the corona outbreak. Dr. Walensky, do you feel that any accountability regarding the Public Perception and the lack of widespread confidence in the c. D. C. And its public officials, do you feel that rests on the shoulders of leadership . Dr. Walensky i think i would dispute the framing of that question. There is increasing confidence in the c. D. C. And mr. Joyce we are pulling from the Pew Research Center that says more than half of American Adults felt there was misleading and false information. Dr. Walensky, is the c. D. C. Not capable of accurately reporting to the country the generalities in a Public Health situation specifically during the covid pandemic. Dr. Walensky the quote of the Rachel Maddox show where i said they cant carry the virus, they cant transmit it to others. It was true for the alpha variant at the time i said t even those who had positive tests and asymptomatic infection, were not transmitting that virus to anyone else. Mr. Joyce your leadership has fractured the American Publics confidence in the c. D. C. We are trying to Work Together as a Bipartisan Committee to work forward to understand how this misinformation and how these comments are made. Yet walked back just in a matter after few days by a spokesperson from your own c. D. C. This committee wants to understand this further. I think that we are coming to a conclusion as we work to shine the light on these problems. And i, again, thank you for coming here today. My time has expired. I yield back, mr. Chairman. Chair wenstrup now recognize dr. Bera from california for five minutes of questions. Mr. Pwera thank you, dr. Walensky, for your service and work as c. D. C. Director. Mr. Chairman, i have the privilege of sitting on the commission for strengthening Americas Health security. One of the task forces that the subgroup put together the report the c. D. C. The country needs comprehensive included former c. D. C. Members, nonpartisan, health experts, i would love to, mr. Chairman, enter that for the record. Chair wenstrup without objection. Mr. Pwera thank you mr. Berra mr. Bera dr. Walensky, one of the recommendations out of that report was looking at reorganization plan. I know you undertook the reorganization plan. I would love to get a sense of major findings and the status of that reorganization. Dr. Walensky among the things that we learned is that there were layers of bureaucracy that were happening within the agency that things that were really essential, our Public Health infrastructure related things, our office of readiness and response, our laboratory systems, data systems were buried in layers of bureaucracy and not within the Immediate Office of the director line of sight. Among of the things that was critically important in this reorganization that was completed in the end of february. We are actively asking under that new reorganization, organized structure, was to have those layers, those important Public Health information components, science, data, laboratory, readiness report immediately to the office of the director full line of sight and get rid of those bureaucracy. Mr. Bera one other recommendation, you touched on this, was on the communications front. How we translate the science into guidance in a way that i watched my wife, who is a physician, going to the c. D. C. Webb site on a daily basis during the pandemic using that information to provide guidance to her health care professionals. But also how do you translate that science knowing that lay members of the public were now going to the c. D. C. Webb site . You touched on c. D. C. Website . You touched on dr. Walensky as a consumer before coming to the c. D. C. You put c in my google bar cant came up with c. D. C. We were on the guidance all the time. Most people hadnt heard of the c. D. C. It was people, Health Care Workers, Public Health workers who are in the trenches who needed to know and understand. The language was for them. All of a sudden c. D. C. Was splashed across the pages, people people were it was in the news. People were going to the guidance themselves. It was never intended for the average American Consumer to consume our webpages. And we now need to recognize that that is who our audience is and we need to have an audience for our Health Care Workers, health care providers, and we also need to have webpages consumer ready for the American People so they can say in lay language they understand. Mr. Pwera mr. Bera you touched on the work force issues and building a Public Health system we deserve. Ed pandemic did expose underresourced, fragmented Public Health system. Where data wasnt shared readily or quickly. Where we werent doing disease surveillance and wastewater surveillance. A lot of deficiencies in our Public Health system. It would be a shame for us in congress not to take the resources and put those resources into the Public Health system that we all deserve. One of the various i worry about is some of the rhetoric coming out of the pandemic really does erode trust. What should be the most trusted Public Health organization in the world, the c. D. C. , multiple other areas. And that we are discouraging that young generation who really did grow up in the midst of a pandemic. This should be a time where they are stepping up to come work for us. Maybe in the short period of time i have, if you could reiterate the things we should be thinking about andn congress to help build that work force. Dr. Walensky maybe i would emphasize, thank you for that opportunity. This nation is an estimated 80,000 Public Health workers in deficit to perform the that is a report outside of c. D. C. , to perform the standardized Public Health duties of this country. We need Public Health workers. In order to do that certainly tax exempt, loan we payment so people are encouraged to go in. People leave medical school with 200,000 in debt. They are encouraged to go into this field. Its an incredible field. During the pandemic we had some Health Departments that report 50 of people leaving. We need those Public Health workers if we are going to be primed and ready for any threat that comes next. Mr. Bera i yield back. Thank you for your work. Chair wenstrup i now recognize dr. Mccormick from georgia for five minutes of questions. Mr. Mccormick thank you, mr. Chair. Director walensky, good to have you here today. Thank you for being with us. It was funny i was talking to a doctor today, my old attending at grady aepl emory when i was a resident. I would thank you for your service during the pandemic. I, too, was on the frontlines of the pandemic from the very beginning. All wait through december of this last all the way through december of this last year. Watched the entire evolution of this disease process. With dismay at times we politicized it so much. I would make the case that probably the biggest mistake, going to ask your opinion on this, the biggest mistake we made of all the different things, guidances and everything, thats fine, we did our best, but the problem, biggest problem is, a lot of people point this out all the time, we let this become political rather than medical. Rather than a health care question. Whether instead of letting doctors talk to their patients about this, we had politicians talking to prompters. We had you had people who had access to you to try to give you input, tried to, whatever, it doesnt matter, rather than doctors. A doctor who is an urgent care physician who treated thousands and thousands of of patients with great success. Wanted to have access but couldnt. Teachers union gets to have your personal cell phone. Thats egregious. It became political. I think you are a scientist. I think you are a person who understands Infectious Disease process. Do you think that the biggest problem i think the biggest problem, ill ask you if you think so, the biggest problem with alt misinformation, with all the all the phfgs, with all the fact we had black liberals and white conservatives not following science because both sides were politicized so bad nobody could figure out what the truth was because it was politicized we couldnt get to the truth. Would you agree it was one of the biggest problems we had . Dr. Walensky i would say that first i want to say many scientists and state Health Officers have given every one of our state Health Officers my direct cell phone at some point in time over the last 2 1 2 years so they had access to me so they could see what was happening on the ground. That was a frequent event that people would have access to me. I do think that when politics have become involved in what we