President Biden visited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Georgia on Friday, commending health officials for having “changed things” in a way to “make everyone healthier” amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden visited the CDC with Vice President Harris.
“Science is back,” Biden said. “I hope this is the beginning of the end of not paying attention.”
The president said, “We can build all the walls and have the most powerful army in the world but cannot stop viruses.”
Biden told CDC staff “you’ve changed things.”
“Even if tomorrow the whole administration changed, you’ve changed things,” he said. “Changed things in a way to make everyone healthier.”
The president, referring to the novel coronavirus, said: “This is a war and you are the frontline troops.”
He added: “I came to say thank you. You’re changing the psyche of the country, you’re changing lives.
“We are the only country in the world, that we’ve come out stronger than when we went in,” Biden continued. “It’s who we are.”
The vice president added that the administration is “without any question about science.”
Harris called the CDC “a model for the world,” touting “decisions based on science, hard work and commitment to public health.”
“You do this work on behalf of the people you will never meet, who will never know your names because you care about our country and their wellbeing,” Harris said. “So we’re here to help you.”
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky thanked the president and vice president and said that as long as she is in her post, the CDC “will bake into the cake of everything we do our commitment to equity, science, and to bring back the health of the American people.”