This administration’s bypassing Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention and Meals and Drug Administration advisory committees’ public well being coverage processes is creating chaos; it’s déjà vu.
5 years in the past, the administration required all COVID-19 communications be routed by the vice chairman’s workplace. This resulted in political appointees filtering the analyses and proposals of impartial knowledgeable committees, destroying the clear linking of proof to suggestions and undermining belief in federal steerage.
The governors of California, Washington, Oregon and Nevada appointed a Western States Scientific Evaluation Group to evaluate federal suggestions, the rigor of the proof evaluation processes and the supporting analyses. The 17 voting members included clinicians and scientists from the 4 states. Eight had served on federal advisory committees. Conferences have been attended by state well being departments and governors’ workers.
The group’s studies supplied harried state leaders with well timed credible steerage. Key success components included the independence of particular person members; their data of communicable illness epidemiology, illness prevention, and vaccine improvement, analysis and security; and their collective expertise making public well being coverage suggestions.
The present debacle warrants replication of the WSSRG mannequin in Washington state now to make sure continued confidence within the state’s communicable illness management and public well being insurance policies.
Edgar Ok. Marcuse, M.D., MPH, FPIDS, Seattle, former WSSRG member
