Health agencies’ credibility at risk after week of blunders

Nurse practitioner Debbi Hinderliter, left, collects a sample Aug. 13 from a woman at a coronavirus testing site near the nation’s busiest pedestrian border crossing in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

President Donald Trump listens as Dr. Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, speaks during a media briefing Aug. 23 in the James Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

WASHINGTON — The credibility of two of the nation’s leading public health agencies was under fire this week after controversial decisions that outside experts said smacked of political pressure from President Donald Trump as he attempts to move past the devastating toll of the coronavirus ahead of the November election.