CDC director snubs study showing masks ineffective

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky last week snubbed a large-scale, high-quality study published recently which concluded that face masks offer little protection against COVID-19, if at all.

The researchers reviewed 78 global studies involving over a million people. Significantly, the studies reviewed were randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies, which are considered to be high-quality research and the scientific optimum.

But at a congressional hearing last week, Walensky dismissed the meta-analysis by saying that not enough people in the studies wore masks.

"One of the limitations in that study was clearly stated that people were not actually engaged in the intervention — so you actually have to wear the mask for it to work," she said. 

The CDC’s own studies which claim high mask efficacy are population studies which have been criticized by medical experts as low-quality “shaky studies” based on “shaky methods”. 

Furthermore, the CDC’s science on masks has been questioned for its cyclical and even nepotistic nature, with mask-mandating officials using reports they themselves created to justify mask mandates.

But Walensky told Congress last week that the CDC’s mask guidance is based on the level of disease, which is why it mandates masking children to this day.

"Our masking guidance doesn't really change with time — what it changes with is disease," she said. "So, when there is a lot of disease in the community, we recommend that those communities and those schools mask. When there's less disease in the community, we recommend that those masks can come off."

But contrary to Walensky’s claim, the CDC’s stance on masking children has been guided by two factors, one of them being pressure from teachers’ unions which have been known to dictate CDC public health policy during COVID-19. 

Internal emails which Fox News obtained in 2021 show that the country’s largest teachers’ union, the National Education Association (NEA), threatened the CDC with public criticism if the agency did not recommend imposing mask mandates in schools. Indeed, the CDC subsequently changed its recommendation to match the NEA’s “suggestion”. 

The second factor dictating the CDC’s guidance on masking children is polling data.

On August 10, 2021, top Biden administration officials received an email from Drew Altman, president of the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). KFF is a dark money organization in Washington, D.C. funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Twitter, Google, Facebook and Poynter, among others. The foundation’s board comprises executives and political operatives, including Los Angeles Times Executive Editor Kevin Merida and former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius who was also an Obamacare architect. 

Altman’s email was addressed to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, former National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, then-White House Vaccinations Coordinator Dr. Bechara Choucair, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, then-White House COVID-19 Response Team Senior Advisor Andy Slavitt, then-White House COVID-19 Response Team Chief Science Officer David Kessler and then-White House COVID-19 Response Team Senior Advisor Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, who was also the chairwoman of an entity called the COVID-19 Equity Task Force. 

In the email, Altman shared select data from a KFF poll which showed that masking children was popular among Democrats. 

“Hi folks, this is our Monitor Report on kids, parents and schools as promised,” began Altman. “We have the scoop on the issue of the moment, masks in schools. A very solid majority favor school masking requirements (63%), with 36% opposing. That 36% is made up of the usual suspects and of course is large enough to make some trouble in parts of the country and generate news.” 

Altman went on to say that “asking unvaccinated students/staff to wear masks in school” was even “more broadly popular than vaccine mandates,” and again dismissed opposition to school mask mandates as a “political winner” only among conservatives. 

“Prohibitions against schools wearing masks (which seven states now have, may only be a political winner in deep-red communities.” 

Altman also recommended Surgeon General Vivek Murthy “rally pediatricians in a campaign” to get parents to inject their children, citing data that pediatricians remain the most trusted source for parents. 

“And concerns about long term impacts on fertility,” continued Altman, “remain an issue to go after and can be a target as you hammer misinformation.” 

Three days later, the CDC recommended universal masking for all children aged two and up.