Alexander, a Canadian PhD he had hired on contract, was permanently let go this week, HHS said in a statement. Caputo and Alexander also sought more control over the CDC’s weekly scientific missives, called the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Schuchat does not often author reports by herself, and the report took senior HHS leaders by surprise. But Caputo and Alexander went much further than Azar and other senior HHS leaders by seeking full control over the reports, several agency officials said. His doctoral dissertation looked at ways to use data to make effective recommendations for clinicians and public health officials when confidence in the data is low.

Source: Washington Post September 19, 2020 00:30 UTC