I just was wondering if you guys could share a little bit more detail on the current state of thinking around boosters. "A vaccine may feel unnecessary. But if we just let the virus run free without mitigation strategies, such as masking, our hospitals will overflow and that would mean we would no longer be able to take care of the populations health across the board. The agencys handling of the COVID-19 outbreak began in a similar way. Dr. Walensky served as Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital from 2017-2020 and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School from 2012-2020. And flu cases are exploding. But if you are beyond that window, I want to reiterate: There is no bad time to get your second shot.Do it for yourself, your family, and for your community. director in happiness, in joy, said James Krellenstein, executive director of the advocacy group PrEP4All Collaboration. Still, hospitals like his continue to do educational campaigns for their employees, like the videos Walensky appeared in. I am so grateful to @JoeBiden @KamalaHarris and @Transition46 for their faith in this truly remarkable woman. For Immediate Release: Friday, June 4, 2021. Last summer, after protests over the death of George Floyd, more than 1,200 C.D.C. They said the goal date for a decision is January 2022. We are seeing outbreaks of cases in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage because unvaccinated people are at risk. But right now Im scared., Her impassioned speech startled many people, perhaps none more than her husband. The truth is that, across our nation, the voices of doctors, nurses, scientists, and public health experts are too often being drowned out by the false sirens of misinformation. The pandemic has caused long-term repercussions throughout the tourism and entertainment industries, including temporary and permanent closures of historic and iconic venues, costing the city and businesses billions in revenue. But that enthusiasm has been tempered by occasional missteps in communications, an aspect of the job that is more important and challenging than it has ever been. She joined Harvard University in 1998 as a research fellow and in 2001 she became an instructor at Harvard Medical School. expert at the hospital who was first her mentor, then a collaborator. And thats a situation that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is going to look at next week. And Dr. Murthy will discuss vaccine confidence with a focus on combatting misinformation and disinformation. If you have areas of low vaccination and high case rates, then I would say local policymakers might consider whether masking at that point would be something that would be helpful for their community until they scale up their vaccination rates because more people than not in the community are unvaccinated.SURGEON GENERAL MURTHY: And, Jeff, can I just add MR. He said, 'What's wrong, what's wrong, is everything OK?' "They have been diminished," she said. WALENSKY: Good morning. It reads: "Hard things are hard. In 2017, she became chief of infectious diseases at M.G.H., the first woman and the third person to hold the job in 70 years. She is married to Loren D. Walensky and they have 3 children. There are two things happening at the same time, she said. The respiratory virus RSV has been surging for weeks, sending kids to emergency rooms. President Biden had promised that the C.D.C. Eventually, she became his boss. WALENSKY: And we know that that's going to be really important for CHANG: So what is being done to increase vaccination among that particular group, people who are 70 years or older? In the next slide, we see the UK. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the C.D.C. The bottom line is: We are dealing with a formidable variant in the Delta variant, as reflected by the data that Dr. Walensky told you, and the extreme vulnerability of people who are not vaccinated, which will account for infections, hospitalizations, and, ultimately, deaths.And so the message loud and clear that we need to reiterate is that these vaccines continue to strong protection against SARS-CoV-2, including the Delta variant. Id like to continue it along the lines that Dr. Walensky had mentioned, but now maybe take a look at it from a global standpoint, if I could have the first slide. Rochelle Walensky Family | Ethnicity She was born in Peabody, Massachusetts, to her parents. And our biggest concern is that we are going to continue to see preventable cases, hospitalizations, and, sadly, deaths among the unvaccinated.Lastly, I want to reiterate the importance of getting fully vaccinated. Stay home when you're sick. She called out the drug company Gileads pricing of its preventive therapy for H.I.V. Media Statement. First, we include recommendations for individuals and families. We only have about 33% of people over the age of 65 who've gotten that bivalent vaccine this season. Receive the latest news and breaking updates, straight from our newsroom to your inbox. Rochelle is married to Loren Walensky, a pediatric oncologist, cancer chemical biologist and director of the Harvard/MIT MD-PhD Program. "And I think our entire division would lie down in traffic for her.". She will replace Dr. Robert Redfield, who assumed the role in March 2018. Walensky kept publishing research on key pandemic topics, such as college testing and antibody treatments. I will provide an update on how were working on a number of fronts to manage this virus. Dr. Rochelle Wallinski is the daughter of Carol Bersov Bernstein and Edward H. Bersov, the former chair of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital. In 2019, she testified before Congress about the prohibitive cost of preventive therapy and treatments for H.I.V. 1. Before I turn it over to Dr. Murthy, let me reiterate: The best thing we can do right now is to get more Americans vaccinated. Its my responsibility to tell both of those stories.. [1] But she still eats dinners with her family on Zoom and travels to Massachusetts every weekend. Every American 12 and older, no matter where they live, has vaccines readily available to them. Rochelle Walensky was born to a father called Edward Bersoff and a mother identified as Carol Bersoff-Bernstein. Tenants . "I got called during a code," she says. If you look at the average daily prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant worldwide, if you look at the righthand part of the slide, you see the extraordinary surge in the dominance of this variant worldwide. MORE: 5 things to know about COVID protections as Americans head back to work You know, this strategy as we think, going forward, about how to get the rest of the country vaccinated has got to involve everyone. Rochelle Paula Walensky is an American physician-scientist who is the chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Loren Walensky recalls coming home one day to find her sitting at the kitchen table working on extremely complex math. As someone who has lost 10 family members to COVID-19 and who wishes each and every day that they had had access to the vaccine, its painful to know that nearly every death we are seeing now from COVID-19 could have been prevented. Her leadership of the C.D.C. Shes clear, articulate and she can deliver messages with a smile. She deeply felt the weight of a half a million dead.. And communities that are fully vaccinated are generally faring well.You can see the patterns of local outbreaks in the slide of community transmission. director than my previous 18 predecessors, and sort of a different kind of character in public health.. Walensky has said one of her top priorities will be to improve the CDCs communications with the public to rebuild trust. ". And as Dr. Walensky and Dr. Fauci are making clear, this is a question that they are continually evaluating. And so that's really the goal. Now 51 years old, Walensky has long been a doctor on a mission first, to fight AIDS around the world, and now, to shore up the CDC and get the United States through the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans. Next question. Im encouraged by these commitments because turning the tide against health misinformation will take all of us. Statement from Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ", Biden Names Massachusetts Doctor To Lead CDC, HHS Spokesperson Takes Leave of Absence After Disparaging Government Scientists, House Oversight Committee Chair: Testimony Points To Political Interference At CDC, Coronavirus Vaccine Q&A: Variants, Side Effects, And More, CDC Offers Clearest Guidance Yet For Reopening Schools, If Schools Follow CDC Guidance, Biden's Reopening Goals Could Be Hard To Reach, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. advice must be better attuned to the real world, critics say. In the last week, 10 percent of counties have moved into high transmission risk, in the red, and 7 percent of counties have moved into substantial risk, in the orange. And she likens the call she got from the Biden administration to a hospital alarm that goes off when a patient is in cardiac arrest. ". C.D.C. Not completing the series puts those partially vaccinated at risk of illness. 3:22 PM EST, Wed December 16, 2020, Researchers tested 14 types of masks. Rochelle Walensky (Rochelle Paula Walensky, MD, MPH) serves as Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. And, after weeks of declines, seven-day average daily deaths have increased by 26 percent to 211 per day.Today, Dr. Fauci and I want to provide some perspective about these numbers and how we should be thinking about where we are at this critical moment in the pandemic.There is a clear message that is coming through: This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Q Hi. Neither he nor his parents -- my wife and I -- are sure how long this will last," Slavitt continued, speaking of the younger of his two sons. Like the federal government was actively trying to mess things up.". She saw many people . Daughter of Private and Private She met her husband, Dr. Loren Walensky, now a pediatric oncologist at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston, in her first year at the university. When the pandemic began, Dr. Walensky, 52, was chief of the infectious diseases division at Massachusetts General Hospital. Ive heard some commentary though, suggesting that among immunosuppressed people and the elderly, they might be needed. got the medical and epidemiological science right, but what they did not get right was the behavioral science, the communications and working collaboratively with other stakeholders, Dr. Gounder said. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the C.D.C. I want to thank everybody for joining todays briefing and look forward to next week. Health care workers in the US started receiving Pfizers coronavirus vaccine this week, and its expected they could get Modernas vaccine starting next week. And its great to be with all of you again today. The agency also dropped guidance advising that anyone who came into close contact with an infected person should get tested then re-adopted it after criticism from health experts. Or is that just a must have decision by date. "I don't think we're going to feel it then. Next slide. Thank you, Zeke. He wasnt willing to resign when it was necessary or to be fired for standing up for principle, said David Holtgrave, a former CDC staffer who is now dean of the public health school at the State University of New York at Albany. The podcasts host, Dr. Howard Bauchner, who is also editor of the journal, praised her effusively. Schaffner added that he thinks Walensky will be an effective communicator in general a much needed skill for her new job, given that many Americans, not just health care workers, are hesitant about the new vaccine. Take a COVID test if you have symptoms. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 3 million kids under 17 have contracted COVID-19, Slavitt said, "and even though it's rare for kids to get severely ill from COVID-19, it can happen.". But six months later, he still suffers from tachycardia, shortness of breath, and ongoing and frequent flu-like symptoms. Within weeks, the agency was pushed off stage. And when we get enough information to make that decision, then that decision will be forthcoming. Now, in the upper righthand corner, which is where we are today, you can see the recent growth in cases where the red and orange are again increasing. So, Kaitlan, we dont have the data the clinical data but I think one can make the reasonable assumption based on the level of virus in the nasal pharynx that it would be less likely that that vaccinated breakthrough person would transmit, compared to an unvaccinated person.MR. Simply put, health misinformation has cost us lives. A highway sign in Vancouver, Wash., the day after the state lifted its mask mandate for fully vaccinated adults. Dr. Walenskys appointment instantly made her one of the most influential women in the nation, and was greeted with enthusiasm by public health experts and C.D.C. But the agency stumbled in February when a test for the virus sent to states proved to be flawed. Under him, the agency quietly made changes to its guidance, sometimes dictated by the Trump administration, with no public announcement. Because we have fully vaccinated more than 160 million Americans, weve fundamentally changed the course of this pandemic from one that puts the lives and livelihoods of all Americans at risk, to one that predominantly threatens unvaccinated people.As Dr. Walensky said, as the more transmissible Delta variant continues to spread across the country, we will likely continue and experi- continue to experience an increase in COVID cases in the weeks ahead, with these cases concentrated in communities with lower vaccination rates.