New CDC director pledges to ‘speak truth’ about science

Dr. Erica Schwartz addressed CDC employees Wednesday in her first agencywide meeting.

The new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Erica Schwartz, said Wednesday the agency is prepared to handle a variety of disease outbreaks, despite internal concerns about drastic cuts to CDC staffing and programs.

Schwartz made the remarks in an internal meeting with CDC staff members. NBC News reviewed a transcript of the agencywide meeting, Schwartz’s first since she took the helm of the agency this month.

In a question-and-answer part of the event, a staffer expressed concern about the agency’s ability to continue the high level of detailed work necessary to address ongoing outbreaks such as measles and Ebola following a massive reduction in force.

About a quarter of the CDC’s workforce either have left the agency or were fired during President Donald Trump’s second term.

“The brain drain is fierce,” the staffer said, according to the transcript. “How are we going to hold up CDC’s image of being the gold standard when the back door and front door is wide open and people are leaving?”