Former CDC Director Admits COVID Mandates Were Destructive And Ineffective

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, anyone who questioned lockdowns, mask mandates, the lab leak or school closures was vilified by the media, politicians and the "expert" community.

Unproven policies without any supporting evidence, as even Dr. Anthony Fauci now admits, were suddenly immutable truths that could not be questioned. Those who did raise legitimate questions about the efficacy of such policies were labeled "grandma killers" or anti-science "free dumb" lovers. 

READ: The Worst Lies of Anthony Fauci’s Testimony

Well, you can now count the former head of the CDC as a member of the "anti-science" community. Dr. Robert Redfield discussed our pandemic response in a recent interview with Chris Cuomo, and made some stunning admissions about our COVID policies and mandates.

And suddenly, those of us who said masks didn't work or that our response was a dramatic overreach don't seem so "free dumb" any more. Don't expect any apologies.

Robert Redfield, CDC Director, participates in a rountable discussion on Operation Warp Speed with Vice President Mike Pence at the Air National Guard 164th Airlift Wing on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020, in Memphis, Tenn. Photo: Joe Rondone / The Commercial Appeal (USA Today)

Former CDC Director Discusses Lab Leak, Vaccine Rollout

Redfield, who ran the CDC for most of 2020, said he believes that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was working on vaccine development in the lab, and that its research was directly responsible for the release of the coronavirus.

This isn't the first time that Redfield has spoken out about his belief that the virus spread as a result of a lab-related incident, but it takes on increased meaning as Dr. Fauci desperately attempts to downplay his own role in gain-of-function research or the suppression of the lab leak theory.

Redfield also spoke about how the rollout of the COVID vaccine played out much differently than it should have, while admitting that vaccine mandates were a disastrous mistake.

"I thought that these vaccines should be prioritized for nursing homes, prioritized for assisted living, prioritized for the elderly, over 60, 65, and yet that's not what happened," Redfield said. "There was this, everyone had to get vaccinated." 

That's precisely what people like Scott Atlas and Jay Bhattacharya said after the vaccines were released. And they were demonized, attacked, and labeled for their efforts. Now the former head of the CDC just…admits that should have always been the case.

Cuomo asked why the priorities changed, asking, "Was it because of big pharma?" Redfield agreed, saying "Yeah, I think there definitely was a huge influence by the pharmaceutical industry, Pfizer, Moderna, I think you did, you know, you pointed out that there was a big push."

Wait a second; anyone who said that Pfizer and Moderna were using their power and leverage to influence politicians, the regulatory bodies, advisory organizations, media  and "expert" community to promote their vaccines was labeled a conspiracy theorist. Now someone who ran one of those very organizations admits that they were, in fact, pressuring people to "push" their vaccines? 

After being told, for years, to listen to the "experts," trust the science, follow whatever you're told to do by those with public health credentials, it seems unlikely the media will be willing to cover what Redfield now says. "The Science" can only be trusted if it's repeating what the political left wants to believe.

Redfield Admits No One Wanted To Release Negative Information About COVID Vaccines

Redfield also told Cuomo that he believed there was a concerted effort by the CDC under Rochelle Walensky and the Biden administration not to release information that could make the vaccines look bad.

"I mean, I was upset with CDC when I left because they stopped tracking people that were infected that were previously vaccinated," Redfield said. Cuomo jumped in to ask, "why?"

Redfield continued, "Well because then you couldn't report that there were people vaccinated that got infected." Cuomo asked again why they stopped tracking it. And that's when Redfield admitted what was obvious to many outside observers since 2021: "I think there was a decision not to do anything that made the vaccine sound like it didn't work."

That one sentence, now on the record from the former head of the CDC, explains perfectly how so many inexcusable policies were enacted and continued for years on end. The pharmaceutical companies, Fauci, the Biden administration's CDC and other "experts" simply wouldn't acknowledge that the vaccine was not performing to the level they'd expected it to.

Fauci, Redfield's replacement Rochelle Walensky, and the public health industrial complex had told the public that the vaccine would be 100 percent effective in preventing the spread of the virus. The media repeated those claims, while demonizing the "unvaccinated," and platforming the same "experts" who were wrong about masks and lockdowns to be wrong about vaccines. So tracking the so-called "breakthrough" cases was untenable, since it made Pfizer and Moderna's shots look ineffective.

Vaccine Mandates Were Unjustifiable

Redfield also admitted that many cases early on after the vaccine rollout were among the vaccinated, despite public messaging. Part of that was the fault of the Biden administration, which mandated and attempted to mandate the COVID vaccines for everyone.

"You know I've always tried to be honest that I think there was some major mistakes in the vaccines, they should have never been mandated," he said. "I also felt that people should have been more honest about the fact that there were side effects to those vaccines and some people were actually harmed." 

"The other thing I thought that there should be more honesty about the fact that the vaccines don't protect against infection. I remember Biden saying this is an epidemic of the unvaccinated. When I was [Larry] Hogan's chief public health advisor in Maryland after I left CDC, I was saying, ‘wait a minute, two-thirds of the people that I’m seeing infected in Maryland have been vaccinated.’"

Yet the media had no interest in telling that story, acknowledging that the vaccines were not preventing infection. And they were helped along by Biden, Fauci, and the new CDC.

"I mean the president of the United States, said ‘this is pandemic of the unvaccinated,’ Tony wasn't aggressive in putting this in perspective, the CDC didn't put it in perspective."

Perspective sure would have been nice, wouldn't it?

Lockdowns Were ‘Overreach’

Redfield discussed government "overreach," how they took advantage of pandemic uncertainty to demand ever more harmful mandates.

"Was there overreach by the government, I think there's no question about it," Redfield said. "I might even argue it got worse in the Biden administration. For example, absolutely never should have mandated vaccines, period. Terrible decision. These vaccines do not prevent infection." 

While Redfield said they prevent serious illness and death for the elderly, he also said there was no justification for mandating them for young people.

"The rationale for mandating vaccines for healthy firefighters, police officers and the military and hospital workers, teachers…was emotional. We should have always honored individual choice on those vaccines," Redfield said.

He also defended natural immunity, saying it was ignored and people were fired. "The lockdowns, overreach," he continued.

Redfield admitted that Fauci, Birx and the president had the meeting to decide lockdowns should be continued, and that he was against closing schools. It wasn't science based policy, it was "emotionalism" with teachers. "All of that, no doubt was overreach by the government," he said. It was also a "big mistake," and we "paid a big price for it."

Amazing to see the former CDC director now sound exactly like the "COVID minimizers" that the media loved to criticize. Especially to Chris Cuomo, whose brother Andrew was one of the chief architects of the forever lockdown. Of school closures. Of mask mandates. Vaccine mandates. All of it. Who demonized anyone who said these policies had negative, harmful side effects that would cause more harm than good.

This is all great to hear now, but where was he when these policies were in effect? Why was his own agency undermining his positions? The answer to that is likely ideological capture on the part of the vast majority of CDC employees, as well as disinterest on the part of the media which preferred Peter Hotez's or Leana Wen's egregious disinformation.

It's a perfect summation of how emotional overreaction and overreach overran the country during the pandemic. Causing immense harm, with zero benefits. No wonder Fauci doesn't want to take responsibility now for the damage he caused then.