"There’s Something Much Bigger Going On Here."
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky is being criticized from all sides over comments she made last week in an interview.
Appearing on ABC News to discuss Omicron variant death statistics, Walensky was asked about a new CDC study that found COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective at preventing hospitalization and death. The study looked at more than 1 million people who completed primary vaccination (two shots, no booster, or one Johnson & Johnson shot) between December 2020 and October 2021. Researchers found that “severe COVID-19-associated outcomes” occurred only in only 0.015% of vaccinated people. Deaths were rare, happening in only 0.0033% of cases.
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“Severe COVID-19 outcomes were defined as hospitalization with a diagnosis of acute respiratory failure, need for noninvasive ventilation (NIV), admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) including all persons requiring invasive mechanical ventilation, or death (including discharge to hospice),” the study said. “Among 1,228,664 persons who completed primary vaccination during December 2020–October 2021, a total of 2,246 (18.0 per 10,000 vaccinated persons) developed COVID-19 and 189 (1.5 per 10,000) had a severe outcome, including 36 who died (0.3 deaths per 10,000).”
The study explained that people most at risk from developing a severe outcome were older than 65, are immunosuppressed, or have at least one of six other underlying health conditions.
Digging into these results on Friday, Walensky told “Good Morning America” that the vast majority of people who died of COVID-19 after primary vaccination had at least four underlying conditions that increased their risk of serious illness. Those conditions include diabetes, and chronic kidney, cardiac, pulmonary, neurologic, and liver diseases.
“The overwhelming number of deaths, over 75%, occurred in people who had at least four comorbidities. So really these were people who were unwell to begin with, and yes, really encouraging news in the context of Omicron,” Walensky said, referring to deaths of vaccinated people examined in the study, not total deaths from COVID-19.
Some people on social media attacked the CDC director for allegedly speaking disrespectfully toward disabled or chronically ill people. Newsweek reported that Twitter users posted #MyDisabledLifeIsWorthy with comments criticizing Walensky for saying she was encouraged that COVID-19 deaths among the vaccinated appear limited to people with preexisting health conditions or disabilities.
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“Contrary to popular belief, CDC Director, disabled people aren’t just data points … How callous to say you’re encouraged by the prospect of their deaths,” Imani Barbarin, a disability rights activist, wrote.
Contrary to popular belief, @CDCDirector, disabled people aren’t just data points. Every life lost was loved by someone, someone’s community member, someone’s friend.
— Imani Barbarin, MAGC | Crutches&Spice ♿️ (@Imani_Barbarin) January 9, 2022
How callous to say you’re encouraged by the prospect of their deaths.
#MyDisabledLifeIsWorthy
Matthew Cortland, a lawyer who suffers from a chronic illness, tweeted: “It is ‘encouraging’ to [Walensky] that chronically ill and disabled Americans are dying … our deaths clearly don’t count.”
Today, @CDCDirector said:
— Matthew "unwell anyway" Cortland, JD (@mattbc) January 8, 2022
"The overwhelming number of deaths, over 75%, occurred in people who had at least 4 comorbidities. So really these are people who were unwell to begin with and yes, really encouraging news in the context of Omicron."
This is eugenicist. pic.twitter.com/zd3iBQTH0J
Many others shared similar comments, some of them nasty. The social media backlash prompted Walensky to respond on Sunday with a tweet emphasizing the CDC’s dedication to protecting people with comorbidities from COVID-19.
We must protect people with comorbidities from severe #COVID19. I went into medicine – HIV specifically – and public health to protect our most at-risk. CDC is taking steps to protect those at highest risk, incl. those w/ chronic health conditions, disabilities & older adults.
— Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH (@CDCDirector) January 9, 2022
“We must protect people with comorbidities from severe COVID-19. I went into medicine—HIV specifically—and public health to protect our most at-risk,” she wrote. “CDC is taking steps to protect those at highest risk, including those with chronic health conditions, disabilities and older adults.”
But the CDC director faced more backlash for entirely different reasons. Several individuals called attention to Walensky’s comment that over 75% of COVID deaths were people with “at least four comorbidities.” These critics took her comments out of context, leaving out the vaccination effectiveness study and claiming she was saying that 75% of all coronavirus-related deaths were from people with comorbidities.
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