Tom Frieden

But there is a way forward.

It is.

It is.

And I don't think we should be anything other but eyes wide open about this.

But facts are stubborn things.

And even if they're denied, suppressed, misused, misquoted, they're still facts.

And they're still the reality out there.

And people want to be healthy.

When you look at the Make America Healthy Maha movement, it's tapping into something very important, that people are so frustrated with our health care system where you can't get good care with inappropriate overemphasis on some pharmaceutical treatments.

I think that gets confused.

Sometimes we over-treat some things and under-treat some things.

But there are stubborn facts.

And committed people.

And I think what we'll see increasingly is states, organizations, localities building forward, not building back, building forward to a health system, including both health care and public health, that's more connected, that communicates well.

that prioritizes well, that creates alliances and resilience, that delivers results that matter to people, longer, healthier lives, that gets away from some of the really problematic conflicts of interest where we're paying way too much for medicines and vaccines and getting far too little of the basic care that can save lots of lives.

Even that, I mean, Eric, even that, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the CDC was basically taken over by unscientific ideologues who don't have expertise in vaccine.

And I oversaw that committee for eight years.

It used rigorous, fact-based science, complete transparency, every aspect.

presentation on the web.

I think it could have communicated better.