In an interview with Spectrum News on Thursday, the CDC’s new director, Dr. Mandy Cohen, teased future guidance recommending annual COVID-19 boosters.

About annual COVID-19 vaccination recommendations, Dr. Mandy Cohen said: announced The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made the announcement in early September.

New CDC Director Mandy Cohen: “I expect COVID-19 to be like the flu shot. increase.”

I was literally suspended from Twitter for predicting this in 2021.https://t.co/WeeECeh3ym

— Michael P Zenger (@michaelpsenger) July 29, 2023

“We’re on the very brink of that precipice, so I don’t want to get ahead of the situation that scientists are here doing the assessment work, but certainly I expect the new coronavirus to be like a flu shot. Whether it’s getting the flu shot every year or getting the COVID-19 shot every year,” Cohen said. “We’re not quite there yet, but stay tuned. We’ll hear more from experts on COVID-19 vaccinations in the coming weeks or months. .”

Cohen was appointed CDC director by President Biden in June following the resignation of Dr. Rochelle Wallenski. She has a background in internal medicine and headed the North Carolina Department of Health Services. (Related: Poll: Almost half of adults believe COVID-19 vaccine may have caused ‘unexplained’ deaths)

The CDC has lost public trust among many Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. About 10% of Americans don’t trust the system at all, according to a March survey. investigation By Harvard T. Chan School of Public Health.

“People are very aware that the CDC has lost credibility,” Cohen said. “Early on, there were some places where CDC performed the way it needed to and didn’t.”

Cohen claims he is concerned about distrust of vaccines. She plans to focus on her relationships with her people, health leaders and politicians of both parties, she said, and she has already met with individual lawmakers.

Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, acknowledged gain-of-function research being conducted in Wuhan, China during the pandemic, in an email released by the House Select Subcommittee on Coronavirus. It was announced after clarifying that it was.