A POLITICO report on political appointees meddling with CDC reports provoked widespread outrage, with Democrats set to demand that HHS Secretary Alex Azar immediately brief them
meddled with the CDC's famed Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports
, seeking retroactive changes to coronavirus-related articles, delaying some releases and even demanding that CDC pause all reports until HHS political appointees in the press shop can review them. Paul Alexander, the scientific adviser to HHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Michael Caputo, has insisted that CDC officials adjust reports that he claimed were attempts to "hurt the President." Both men have complained that the agency’s reports are attempts to undermine Trump's optimistic messages about the outbreak, demanding caveats or changes.
"The reports must be read by someone outside of CDC like myself, and we cannot allow the reporting to go on as it has been, for it is outrageous. Its lunacy," Alexander told CDC Director Robert Redfield and other officials in an Aug. 8 email. "Nothing to go out unless I read and agree with the findings how they CDC, wrote it and I tweak it to ensure it is fair and balanced and 'complete.
CDC officials have ignored or fought back against the most substantive changes but have increasingly allowed Caputo and his team to review reports before publication and in some cases have compromised on wording, Dan reported., who said the decision to meddle with a cornerstone of CDC's scientific reports put Americans at risk.tweetedThe agency's MMWRs have famously been a backbone of global public health for decades.
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