Health champion asks CDC chief to reveal truth
Letter calls on Redfield to sacrifice himself
A former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who led the eradication of smallpox asked the current CDC leader to expose the failed U.S. response to the coronavirus, calling on him to orchestrate his own firing to protest White House interference.
William Foege, a renowned epidemiologist who served under Democratic and Republican presidents, detailed in a private letter he sent last month to CDC Director Robert Redfield his alarm over how the agency has fallen in stature as the pandemic rages.
Foege called on Redfield to openly address the White House’s meddling in the agency’s efforts to manage the COVID-19 crisis, then accept the political sacrifice that would follow. He recommended that Redfield commit to writing the administration’s failures – and his own – so there would be a record that could not be dismissed.
“You could upfront, acknowledge the tragedy of responding poorly, apologize for what has happened and your role in acquiescing,” Foege wrote. He said simply resigning without coming clean would be insufficient. “Don’t shy away from the fact this has been an unacceptable toll on our country. It is a slaughter and not just a political dispute.”
The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Red
field, an HIV/AIDS expert and former military physician, lacked experience running a public health agency when Trump selected him to head the CDC in 2018.
White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement that the CDC has not been compromised. “This dishonest narrative that the media and Democrats have created that politics is influencing decisions is not only false but is a danger to the American public,” Deere said.
Foege’s letter Sept. 23, which was obtained by USA TODAY and has not been previously reported, is a striking condemnation from a public health figure who spent decades helping prevent the spread of diseases.
In an interview, Foege said he felt compelled to write to Redfield after the White House appointed Dr. Scott Atlas to the Coronavirus Task Force, even though he is not an infectious disease expert. The Washington Post reported that Atlas endorsed the controversial strategy of herd immunity, although Atlas denied doing so. The reports prompted Foege, who helped steer India away from such a strategy during the smallpox epidemic, to reach out.
Foege said Redfield can help turn around the response to COVID-19 if he helps implement the lessons learned from decades of fighting pandemics.
“So much of this is the deaths. It’s the deaths,” Foege told USA TODAY, noting that he did not want the letter to become public for fear that it might create a political sideshow and add to Redfield’s burden. “Going public can only embarrass him, and it doesn’t allow him to redeem himself,” Foege said. “By doing this privately, he has a chance to do the right thing.”
Foege’s opinion carries extraordinary weight within the public health community, which credits him with decades of accomplishments even beyond the eradication of smallpox. His credentials include helping to improve millions of lives with his work to eliminate guinea worm disease and river blindness as executive director of the Carter Center. He helped shape the public health efforts of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
In 2012, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contributions.
Nancy Cox, former director of the
CDC’s influenza division, who worked at the agency for 37 years, told USA TODAY that Foege crystallized how many scientists and experts feel.
“The fact that Bill Foege went to the trouble to write this is a testament to how much he values the reputation of the CDC,” Cox said, “and how concerned he is that the reputation is being besmirched by what is happening.”
Dr. Tom Frieden, also a former CDC director, said Foege is the “best CDC director in history.”
“Bill Foege is the Babe Ruth of public health,” said Frieden, president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative aimed at preventing deaths from cardiovascular disease and epidemics. “Bill Foege really is in a league of his own in terms of accomplishment and is revered with reason by essentially everyone in the public health field.”
Foege’s letter lamented that the CDC’s scientific experts have been rendered impotent during the most significant health crisis in a century while decades of experience have been ignored.
“This will go down as a colossal failure of the public health system of this country,” Foege wrote. “The biggest challenge in a century and we let the country down. The public health texts of the future will use this as a lesson on how not to handle an infectious disease pandemic.”
Foege said the CDC’s scientific reputation was tainted under White House pressure. “The White House has had no hesitation to blame and disgrace CDC, you and state governors,” he wrote. “They will blame you for the disaster. In six months, they have caused CDC to go from gold to tarnished brass.”
Foege called on Redfield to take a public stance against the White House and accept that he would lose his job.
“When they fire you, this will be a multi-week story and you can hold your head high. That will take exceptional courage on your part,” Foege wrote in closing. “I can’t tell you what to do except to revisit your religious beliefs and ask yourself what is right.”
Foege told USA TODAY he’d like to see the CDC reclaim its leadership role.
“Dr. Redfield could still be a savior in all of this,” he said.
“It is a slaughter and not just a political dispute.” William Foege, Former CDC director