Transcript: Dr. Céline Gounder on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Aug. 31, 2025

The following is the transcription of an interview with Dr. Céline Gounder, medical contributor to CBS News and editor -in -chief of KFF for public health, broadcast on “Face The Nation with Margaret Brennan” on August 31, 2025.

Ed O’Keefe: We are now joined by Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News Medical contributor and editor -in -chief for public health at Kff Health News. Doctor, so great to see you. Thank you for coming to Washington for this important conversation. Because it was a fairly chaotic week at the CDC, to say the least. We saw the ouster of the agency head, who had only been confirmed by the Senate this summer, she is now mounting a legal challenge to this. Other senior officials have also left. They are still shocked by a shot at Atlanta headquarters a few weeks ago. Why are these departures so important to note? And how do they affect you, me and everyone, in terms of health and medicine?
Dr. Céline Gounder: I think it is really important to understand that it is not only the intrigue of the palace. It really affects us all. So, not only the director, but those responsible for respiratory infections, vaccine safety, chief doctor, the person in charge of public health data also resigned earlier this week. So these are really key positions. Without forgetting that many directors of the various centers, because it is plural, have also been forced to go out in recent months. So you really deal with a leadership vacuum cleaner at the CDC. So it’s not a matter as usual. And so, in particular, how does that affect you, you and I, people who look at home? So, first of all, vaccination policy. Vaccine policy is now carried out by the political fiat and communicated via social media, rather than a process of transparent, open and scientific scientific examination. And so, we note the inversion of the previous recommendations, which also confuse whether the insurance will cover certain vaccines for certain people, and this will already sow huge confusion in pharmacies, as well as for doctor’s offices.
Ed O’Keefe: So there is a series of upcoming meetings concerning the future of vaccines and how they will be available, which get them. Tell us about this and the concerns that some of them, now CDC officials, had on what could happen during these meetings?
Dr. Gounder: Yeah. These meetings are therefore scheduled for mid-September. Some of the things on the agenda include the dose of hepatitis B of the newborn. We generally give it to newborns, because it is to prevent the transmission of the mother to the baby. It is therefore one of the most common ways of hepatitis B is transmitted.
Ed O’Keefe: One of the first strokes of a baby receives.
Dr. Gounder: One of the first shots he obtains, for a good reason. Also protection for infants, for the RSV, one of the most common causes of hospitalization in infants. Number three, the photos coasted. And we expect to see a tightening of availability, the admissibility in the cocovated plans, especially for healthy children and adults. And then, finally, the combined vaccine of measles, mumps, rubella and the revision of long -standing infant vaccination recommendations would be really unprecedented, here.
Ed O’Keefe: So, it is essentially that each plan that you get from 0 to 18 is now to be discussed, then the covid shot, of course, which is important for many people on a regular and rolling basis?
Dr. Gounder: Yes, really basic things we have counted for a very long time. Some of the main concerns about the process involve picking data, modified or drawn scientific journals, and unrecognized studies have rushed into the process, in the development of policies. And it is really an inversion of radical transparency.
Ed O’Keefe: Yeah. There has been an example there in recent days, because there is from the fall to come, Covid resumes. We have already seen an example of a school in Kansas City which was forced to close temporarily due to Covid, and there were points in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, in particular. What should people at home know then that autumn and Covide approaches are starting to increase?
Dr. Gounder: Well, I think, first of all, vaccinations are for many different purposes. It is therefore to prevent serious illnesses, hospitalization and death. But, for many people, you may not be able to call patients at work very easily, as for us, it is really difficult to take leave even if you are really sick. You may want to keep your children in school, and therefore the best way to keep you at work or your children at school is that they were defeated for you and they don’t fall sick.
Ed O’Keefe: Let’s be – and we have to emphasize, by the way, this school ended, happened to open on Tuesday, but the fact that they had to close at all, on the right, as the school year begins, is a sign, potentially, from things to come when people do not take their blows. Let us leave in the end. I am a 42 year old guy with asthma. Will I have problems to take a cocovated photo?
Dr. Gounder: You won’t do it, because – even if you are under 65 years old. So the recommendations – or the approval of the FDA is for people 65 and over, they are all good. They can be made a cocovated photo. Under 65, if you have at least a severe covid risk factor, you can also get your cocovid shot. So you can, absolutely. This is not a problem for you, Ed.
Ed O’Keefe: But it is – you know, children under the age of 18, a perfectly healthy spouse and aging parents? –
Dr. Gounder: – Yes, so aging parents over 65 are eligible. But let’s say that you are between 6 months old and 64 years old and that you do not have a risk factor of severe covid. This is the group where we really have a lot of uncertainty. Now, I must emphasize that pregnancy is a risk factor for severe covid. So, your woman in good health, let’s say she was pregnant, which does not think she is, but if she was, she would be eligible for a covered boost.
Ed O’Keefe: Very good. Dr. Céline Gounder, we like to have you to help us understand all of this. We appreciate that you are falling, delighted to see you. And we will come back right away.