Source: United States Senator for Florida Marco Rubio
CDC’s Lack of Transparency Undermines COVID Vaccine
By U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)
July 30, 2021
Breitbart
On Monday, July 26, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told Americans to “get vaccinated as soon as you can so you can get back to the things you love.”
For at least a year now, this has been the promise:once you get vaccinated, you can get back to your normal life. It was the message consistently driving President Trump’s historically successful Operation Warp Speed, and it’s been the one that President Biden has repeated for most of his presidency — until now.
One day after that tweet, the CDC abruptly reversed course, issuing confusing new guidance that vaccinated Americans should mask up throughout most of the country, regardless of vaccination status. That is a complete 180 degrees from just 60 days ago. It’s yet another broken promise from President Biden, who said in May that “[i]f you’re fully vaccinated and can take your mask off, you’ve earned the right to do something that Americans are known for all around the world: greeting others with a smile.”
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Despite all of the campaign promises about “following the science,” the new CDC guidelines don’t appear to do so…
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Why then, if vaccines are working as intended, should vaccinated Americans now be forced to wear masks? Nobody expected the vaccine to entirely eliminate the chance of infection…
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The truth is that these vaccines work, and Americans should get vaccinated. But for them to do so, they need to have trust in their government. The CDC’s total lack of transparency or consistency here demands serious scrutiny. That is why I introduced the Restore Public Health Institution Trust Act, legislation that would force the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the CDC’s decision-making and messaging and provide recommendations. A GAO review would breathe transparency into an entirely opaque, deeply confusing, and often contradictory process that has major ramifications on Americans’ lives.
Americans made extraordinary sacrifices over the last 18 months, including hysterical measures like keeping schools closed. What kept Americans going, despite it all, was the promise that through their sacrifice, we could go back to normal at the end.
The Biden CDC just shattered that promise, and the American people deserve transparency as to why. If the Biden administration believes the CDC followed the science, they will welcome the opportunity to rebuild faith. If the CDC acted out of political expediency, then reforms are desperately needed. Either way, it is time for America’s public health czars to open the books and play it straight with the American people for once.
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