The CDC just released an ominous warning about the danger of the spread of meningococcal disease.

What should the public make of this?  

Apparently, CDC officials missed a couple of truisms that everyone else knows. First, there is the story of the boy who falsely and repeatedly cried, "Wolf!"

No one believed him when the wolf finally did arrive, entered the town (and ate him). The CDC is that boy. 

Then there is the time-proven aphorism, “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”

How should the public respond when a presumably trustworthy federal agency like the CDC intentionally fools them two times or three times, or even more?

First, there was the CoViD scam, which should probably be counted as at least six foolings of the public by the Washington medical establishment.

1) They vehemently denied the virus came from Wuhan lab, except that it probably did.

2) Dr. Anthony Fauci assured Congress that NIH did not support gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab in China, where the problem originated, until financial records proved he “was untruthful.”

3) CoViD was touted as an existential threat to all 320 million Americans, though in reality it was no more dangerous to the general population than the seasonal flu.

4) Face masks were mandated because they would assuredly protect us, except multiple studies, including one from the CDC, proved they don’t work.

5) Lockdowns would stop the spread, except they didn’t and worse, they stopped our children’s education.

6) The most egregious CDC falsehood was that mRNA injections were safe and effective. A mass of data shows the exact opposite: they were medically harmful and did not protect. 

That is at least six times the CDC cried, “Wolf,” about CoViD, falsely in 2020 and 2021. The CDC lied to the public, repeatedly, and tried to cover it up through aggressive censorship, suppression of contrary data, and canceling nay-sayers.

CDC credibility was in tatters.

How did the CDC react?

In 2022, they doubled down on their false narrative by scaring us with a new pandemic, monkeypox. Fortunately, the CDC’s new public health threat was quickly debunked by numerous experts before it became official and viciously protected Washington narrative. CDC credibility sank to a new low.

In 2023, CDC issued warnings about a resurgence of CoViD and urged all Americans to take boosters. By now, many were wise to CDC fictitious warnings. Over half the population said, “no way,” and especially, “don’t you dare jab my child.” 

Today, the CDC is frightening the population with 143 cases of meningococcal disease, writing, “meningococcal disease has a fatality rate of 10 to 15 percent,” while in the same sentence, admitting it is “rare.” What is the public more likely to take away from the official CDC release: “fatality rate” or “rare?” 

CDC and the entire Washington medical establishment including NIH, FDA, and the White House have lost credibility with Americans. Trust once lost cannot be restored, or not easily, and certainly not if they continue to lie.

This loss of faith in federal officialdom is worrisome both for the public and for care providers.  

Physicians used to depend on CDC and FDA for accurate medical facts, not clinical mandates, just precise, reliable data. When the CDC adds CoViD shots to the standard pediatric immunization schedule though children are not in danger from CoViD but are in danger from the shots, the CDC destroys physicians’ trust. When the FDA prevents physicians from administering a useful, safe drug treatment for CoViD, ivermectin, federal bureaucrats are practicing medicine and doing it badly. 

If a true existential medical threat, whether natural or man-made, were to arise, would the public believe the CDC or the next Fauci? I fear not. 

Deane Waldman, M.D., MBA is Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics, Pathology, and Decision Science; former Director of the Center for Healthcare Policy at Texas Public Policy Foundation; former Director, New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange; and author of the multi-award winning book Curing the Cancer in U.S. Healthcare: StatesCare and Market-Based Medicine.

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