Congress Must Hold the CDC Accountable for Cozy Ties to Pharma

Why won’t congressional investigators force the CDC Director to explain why Pfizer and Moderna’s PR firm is embedded at the agency’s vaccine center?

Congressional leaders with the House Energy and Commerce investigative subcommittee will question CDC Director Mandy Cohen tomorrow in what should be an interesting hearing on restoring public trust. The hearing “should” be interesting, because this committee has a long history of holding corporate and government leaders accountable, however, we have yet to see this committee get any actual explanation for a rash of mistakes and failures during the COVID pandemic.

During her final appearance before Congress last summer, the prior CDC Director, Rochelle Walensky, gave false testimony about a study on masks. When two researchers pointed out Walensky’s mistake, a congressional staffer emailed them that the committee would correct the record. “We want the record to reflect the accurate facts for posterity,” the staffer with House Appropriations wrote, “And take this responsibility very seriously as the lack of trust in public health officials is becoming an enormous problem for many reasons.”

Having run congressional investigations for several years, I’m confused why the Energy and Commerce Committee has done so little peeking into COVID scandals at the CDC—many of which I have documented during the last couple of years. Congressional staff work long hours and often don’t have the time to look into every problem, but how can the CDC regain public trust when employees with the PR firm for Pfizer and Moderna staff the CDC’s Vaccine Center?

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