Originally published June 16, 2023 1:40 pm PDT
With Dr. Rochelle Walensky stepping down from her role as Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at the end of the month, Joe Biden has picked Dr. Mandy Cohen to fill the position.
“Dr. Cohen is one of the nation’s top physicians and health leaders with experience leading large and complex organizations, and a proven track-record protecting Americans’ health and safety,” a White House statement reads.
Dr. Cohen, who served in various senior positions during the Obama administration, including as a senior official in various parts of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), holds degrees from Cornell University, Yale School of Medicine, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
She played a crucial role in the 2008 establishment of “Doctors for Obama,” a grassroots organization, serving as one of its founding members and as the National Outreach Director.
Dr. Cohen was appointed to the role of Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in January 2017 by Governor Roy Cooper.
History of Harsh COVID Measures
As North Carolina’s DHHS Secretary, Dr. Cohen told her Twitter followers to “stay home” and to “[o]nly leave for essential business like work, school, grocery shopping, or receiving healthcare” in January 2021.
In the tweet, she cited a directive from her department commanding North Carolinians to wear masks and practice social distancing, to “stay home,” to avoid gatherings, and to “get tested” for COVID-19.
She also told her state’s residents to practice so-called “contact tracing,” whereby citizens must answer phone calls from government employees and answer questions regarding personal health information.
Read the directive below:
In June of the same year, Dr. Cohen’s state participated in a vaccine lottery, whereby North Carolinians 18 and older who received a COVID vaccine “could be one of four people this summer to win $1 million.”
In July, Cohen required Kindergarten through High School students to practice indoor mask-wearing.
“Schools with students in K-8th grade should require all children and staff to wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status,” she tweeted. “Schools with students in 9th-12th grades should ensure that anyone who isn’t fully vaccinated, including students, wear a mask indoors.”
Dr. Richard Bartlett, a 30-year Texas emergency room physician and former advisor to then-Governor Rick Perry’s Heath Disparities Task Force, points to a study published by the prestigious Cochrane Library and funded by the National Institutes of Health.
That study analyzed the findings of 78 randomized controlled trials to determine whether “physical interventions,” like face masks, reduced the spread of respiratory viruses.
The study’s lead author, Tom Jefferson, said there “is just no evidence that [masks] make any difference. Full stop.”
When he was asked specifically about fitted N95 masks, he replied, “It makes no difference—none of it.”
In August, Cohen claimed that COVID jabs, which still have no long-term safety data, are “remarkably effective in reducing risk of severe illness, hospitalization, and death.”
“A booster shot will be recommended to maximize protection and prolong durability,” she tweeted.
A few days later, she praised the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of the COVID jab, telling her followers to “get your vax today!”
The next day, she claimed that vaccines were “safe” and “effective.”
Dr. Batlett emphasized that Cohen, despite being a doctor, has not treated any patients herself.
“As a frontline ER physician who has been treating patients throughout the COVID pandemic, I strongly believe that Mandy Cohen, having not treated a single COVID patient, is out of touch with reality. There are two fundamental elements to scientific facts: they must be observable and reproducible.”
“I work as an ER physician at a Heart Hospital. Any doctor who has treated a heart injury is aware that the Troponin blood test is the definitive test to prove heart cells have died. Cohen might be unaware of this, given that she does not provide direct patient care. A study from the University of Basel indicated that 2.8 out of every 100 people receiving the COVID shots exhibited elevated Troponin levels. How many heart cells are we willing to let die?”
A few days later, Cohen promised a “$100 card” to vaccine recipients.
In October, Cohen claimed that booster shots “provide ongoing protection against COVID-19.”
“Those eligible should go out and get their booster today! Find a vaccine near you,” she tweeted.
In November, she “cheer[ed] on” young children receiving vaccines and again claimed that the jabs were “safe and effective.”
Bartlett, who is on the board of the nonprofit that served the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the Freedom of Information Act (FIOA) request for Pfizer’s COVID vaccine safety data showing 1,200 adverse events of special interest, highlighted the U.K.’s Vaccine Damage Payment program.
“The U.K. has been providing financial aid, up to $120k per victim, for over a year now to those who have been permanently debilitated and devastated by the COVID shots,” he said.
Two days later, she thanked the pediatricians who vaccinated her own daughters and told her followers with 5-11-year-olds to vaccinate their children.
Later that month, she pushed a town hall for Spanish speakers promoting “vaccines for kids.”
In December, Dr. Cohen again told her followers, “Protect yourself & your loved ones by getting your flu vaccine today!”
Later that month, she pushed booster shots, tests, and masks.
“If you haven’t yet, it’s not too late to decide to get vaccinated, get your COVID-19 vaccine today!” she tweeted.
Congressional Opposition
Earlier this week, U.S. Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) and Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) led 26 colleagues in the House and Senate to demand that President Biden “withdraw his reported selection of the radical, partisan Dr. Mandy Cohen to serve as the next Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),” according to a press release.
“Dr. Cohen is unfit for the position,” the group explained in a letter. “Throughout her career, Dr. Cohen has politicized science, disregarded civil liberties, and spread misinformation about the efficacy and necessity of COVID vaccinations and the necessity of masks, during her time as the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. She also has a history of engaging in partisan left-wing politics.”
The legislators provided instances of Dr. Cohen’s extreme actions during her tenure as North Carolina’s Health Secretary.
They also highlighted her past as a partisan activist and her involvement in fundraising for Democratic candidates, which they considered disqualifying.
“Given her strong affiliation with the Democrat Party and the COVID-19 lockdowns, it will be difficult for the American people to trust Dr. Cohen to run the CDC as a nonpartisan actor who makes objective decisions rooted in scientific data, and not in political expediency. Therefore, we urge you to reverse course on Dr. Cohen’s reported appointment to the Director of the CDC,” they wrote.
The 6 Senate signers include Sens. Ted Budd (R-NC), Mike Lee (R-UT), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Ted Cruz (R-TX), J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Mike Braun (R-IN), according to the press release.
The 22 House signers include Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Byron Donalds (R-FL), Michael Cloud (R-TX), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Mary Miller (R-IL), Scott Perry (R-PA), Trey Nehls (R-TX), Aaron Bean (R-FL), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Matt Rosendale (R-MT), Eric Burlison (R-MO), Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Dan Bishop (R-NC), Ronny Jackson (R-TX), Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Diana Harshbarger (R-TN), Bob Good (R-VA), Andy Ogles (R-TN), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Randy Weber (R-TX).
Read the full letter below:
Connection to Bill Gates
In 2022, Cohen was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Aledade Care Solutions, also serving as the healthcare company’s Vice President.
In 2017, it was reported that Aledade Inc., based in Bethesda, Maryland, had raised $20 million in Series B1 funding, including backing from Google Ventures.
That round was led by Biomatics Capital Partners, a venture firm co-founded by Boris Nikolic, former chief scientific and technology adviser to Bill Gates.
Nikolic had been named by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whom Gates has significant ties to as well, as one of three executors of his $578 million estate, a position he reportedly denied taking up.
Nikolic was part of Gates’s inner circle that was close to Epstein, even at times functioning as an intermediary between the two men.
Moreover, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed tens of millions of dollars in grants to Yale University, Cohen’s alma mater (here), as well as Harvard and Cornell.
