CBS News: As highly transmissible Omicron subvariant spreads, what do Americans need to know?
The World Health Organization said the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant known as BA.2 is continuing to fuel a rise in COVID-19 cases in 18 European countries. Dr. Tom Frieden, a former CDC director and the president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, explained to CBS News how concerned the U.S. should be about a new wave.
Today: Has the COVID-19 pandemic made the world more prepared for the future
Two years ago this week, the world changed after the World Health Organization officially declared a pandemic. After two years of living through COVID-19, have we learned important lessons that will help us be better prepared for future diseases? NBC’s Dr. John Torres talked with Dr. Tom Frieden on this week’s Sunday Spotlight.
Delay in COVID-19 vaccines for kids upset parents. Experts say it was the right thing to do.
Many parents were disappointed when the Food and Drug Administration decided this month to postpone consideration of COVID-19 vaccines for kids under 5.
Politico: Nowhere is safe: Record number of patients contracted Covid in the hospital in January
Shama Cash-Goldwasser, senior technical adviser at Resolve to Save Lives, a group run by former CDC director Tom Frieden that aims to prevent epidemics, said it’s impossible for hospitals to bring transmission to zero, particularly when facilities are crowded and staff are overwhelmed as they have been during Covid-19 surges. “It’s unfortunate,” she said. “I’m not saying it’s OK … Immunocompromised patients and very sick people are at very high risk of poor outcomes, so transmission inside a hospital can really be devastating.”
CNN: The US still isn’t getting Covid-19 data right
“Lack of accurate, real-time information was one of the greatest failures of the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in March 2021.
New York Times: Biden’s Pandemic Fight: Inside the Setbacks of the First Year
Experts like Dr. Tom Frieden, the C.D.C. director under Mr. Obama, have predicted three possible scenarios ahead: that the nation reaches a kind of truce with the virus, with clusters of outbreaks; that the virus weakens to a threat more akin to a common cold; or that, in the worst case, a variant emerges that combines the contagiousness of Omicron with the virulence of Delta.
Dr. Frieden said the White House must plan for them all. Some former Biden advisers have called for the president to plan for the “new normal” — and accept that Covid-19 is here to stay.
The New York Times: The C.D.C.’s New Challenge? Grappling With Imperfect Science
The recommendations for isolation are “basically correct,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, who led the agency under President Barack Obama. “The problem is, they were not explained.”
CDC Director Aims to Improve Covid-19 Messaging, Data Collection
“We have decades of underinvestment in information systems,” said Tom Frieden, the CDC’s director from 2009 to 2017. Dr. Frieden is now president of Resolve to Save Lives, a nonprofit initiative that works on strengthening epidemic preparedness.
Boston Globe: After a rough first year, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky tries to correct course
“In my view, they’re sensible guidelines in a very difficult situation, but they weren’t presented that way,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, a former CDC director in the Obama administration. “I felt like CDC kind of snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.”
Washington Post: CDC director, under fire for confusing guidance, seeks to reshape messaging
Former CDC Director Tom Frieden welcomed the news the agency was holding its own briefings with subject-matter experts. “These briefings are helpful in sharing what we are learning when we are learning it, explaining and providing the basis of recommendations, and answering important questions from journalists,” he said in a statement. “I hope this will be an inflection point in rebuilding confidence in CDC.”
NPR: CDC is criticized for failing to communicate, promises to do better
“The fact is, there are dedicated scientists at CDC who are the world’s experts in a lot of these issues, and they need to be speaking directly to the public along with Dr. Walensky,” says Dr. Tom Frieden, CDC director during the Obama administration, who now runs Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative to help governments and outside groups prevent epidemics.
New York Times: How to Think About Covid Data Right Now
“The circumstances have changed and we must adapt,” said Dr. Shama Cash-Goldwasser, a senior technical adviser at Resolve to Save Lives, a global health organization. “We have a less severe variant, plus many are vaccinated, but evidence suggests the vaccines are not as good at preventing infection with Omicron as they were against Delta.”
‘Wall of secrecy’ in Pfizer contracts as company accused of profiteering
The former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tom Frieden, has accused Pfizer of ‘war profiteering’ on Covid vaccine manufacture.
‘It is embarrassing’: CDC struggles to track Covid cases as Omicron looms
The U.S. was behind other countries in charting the spread of disease in the pandemic’s disastrous early months. It’s still behind as new variants threaten to disrupt the winter.
Two years into this pandemic, the world is dangerously unprepared for the next one, report says
With its vast wealth and scientific capability, the United States held on to its top ranking among 195 countries, even as it scored lowest on public confidence in government — a factor associated with high numbers of cases and deaths
Biden faces new pressure on vaccine equity as Omicron variant reveals perils of global gap
“The Biden administration is doing a lot of things right. They are focusing on global needs, they are donating where they can,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, who was director of the CDC for most of the Obama presidency and now runs an initiative aimed at preventing epidemics called Resolve to Save Lives.
Biden faces uncertain threat with Omicron variant as evolving pandemic tests nation’s patience
“This isn’t the first variant and it won’t be the last,” said Amanda McClelland, senior vice president of Prevent Epidemics and Resolve to Save Lives at Vital Strategies, a New York City-based public health nonprofit.
Young ‘long-haulers’ featured in ad campaign targeted at unvaccinated
A new ad campaign aims to compel more people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by raising awareness of the impact of “long” COVID-19 on some who have contracted the disease.
Babies Are Dying of Syphilis. It’s 100% Preventable.
Syphilis is not an outlier. The United States goes through what former CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden calls “a deadly cycle of panic and neglect” in which emergencies propel officials to scramble and throw money at a problem — whether that’s Ebola, Zika or COVID-19. Then, as fear ebbs, so does the attention and motivation to finish the task.
Syphilis is resurging in the U.S., a sign of public health’s funding crisis
Syphilis is not an outlier. The United States goes through what former CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden calls “a deadly cycle of panic and neglect” in which emergencies propel officials to scramble and throw money at a problem — whether that’s Ebola, Zika or COVID-19. Then, as fear ebbs, so does the attention and motivation to finish the task.