Readers may recall that Cohen led North Carolina’s response to the pandemic. During that time, it seemed that she knew absolutely nothing about the field of public health. She presided over a series of authoritarian responses that violated the constitutional rights and civil liberties of North Carolina citizens. She capitalized on citizens’ fears to implement these measures; and consequently magnified those fears.
Cohen hindered early treatment of Covid-19. She also pushed the vaccine on people who did not need it. Indeed, she remained silent as it was being required of people who did not need it.
Republicans in the General Assembly had fallen in love with Cohen and did nothing to restrain her.
If she gets this job, there would be a silver lining. She would no longer live in North Carolina.
But it would be quite astonishing to have the nation’s top public health agency led by a woman who does not even have a basic understanding of the ethics expected of public health practitioners; and the best practices historically utilized within the field.
She abused her authority in North Carolina. Let’s hope she is not able to do this on the national level.
Unlike the eventual nominee to lead the NIH, the CDC director is not yet a Senate-confirmed position. The recent omnibus bill included a requirement that the Senate confirm the CDC director, but that mandate doesn’t go into effect until January 2025. So it appears she will get the job. Lets hope that it does’t require any heavy lifting or crises to deal with.
It is like some crazy variation on the Peter Principle. The people who are least qualified, and least capable of doing a good job, and the most destructive, are the people who get the position.
URGENT: Joe Biden is about to pick the worst possible person to become the next CDC head
I’m not exaggerating. Dr. Mandy Cohen, the likely choice, is a public health Covid authoritarian and former chief of staff for censorer-in-chief Andy Slavitt.
ALEX BERENSON
JUN 2, 2023
Just what America needs.
Another Covid hysteric running the Centers for Disease Control.
Proving it has learned all the wrong lessons since 2021, the Biden Administration is about to choose Dr. Mandy Cohen to replace Dr. Rochelle Walensky as director of the Centers for Disease Control.
Cohen shares the same health authoritarian impulses as Walensky. She supported mask and vaccine mandates – and lockdowns even in 2021. But she is apparently more bureaucratically competent, and thus more dangerous, than Walensky.
Cohen is also very close to Andy Slavitt, whom I am suing in Berenson v Biden for his efforts to censor me. Her choice suggests Slavitt still has considerable influence in the Biden Administration two years after officially leaving the White House.
Apparently diversity mandates haven’t hit the CDC yet. Cohen is a lot like Walensky, a nice Jewish* doctor** from the Northeastern suburbs with all the right degrees.
(*I can say it, I’m Jewish)
(**The actual expression is “nice Jewish girl” but I don’t want to get in trouble)
Perhaps the biggest difference is that Cohen is less orange. Not figuratively, literally; Walensky’s skin tone occupies an uncanny valley somewhere between North Africa and Malibu Barbie. But I digress.
I know, I shouldn’t make of Rochelle Walensky’s skin tone when there is SO MUCH ELSE to make fun her over.
Like that time she told Rachel Maddow that “vaccinated people do not carry the virus, don’t get sick.” Oops! Or the press conference where she said she was “scared” of Covid. Profiles In Courage, get me rewrite!
But wait. This piece isn’t about the departing CDC director, it’s about the incoming CDC director. The queen is dead, long live the queen.
Stunningly, despite their vast similarities in professional training and life experience, Cohen and Walensky have tons in common.
They both approached Covid by maximizing hysteria and government overreach. Like Walensky, Cohen loves her some face diapers.
In fact, she loves them more than Walensky. In December 2021, Cohen said that “everyone” needed to keep wearing masks. “Even if you’re vaccinated, you should wear a mask,” she said. Even the CDC had dropped its mask requirements for vaccinated people seven months before.
Fred, I expect the coverage of Cohen will intensify as the appointment becomes more “official” in a public way. I have already found one article that I will share later. You found another. I expect there are others out there.
But Berenson characterizes her precisely. And he doesn’t even live in North Carolina.