CDC Director Plans to Reorganize Agency Following COVID Response

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Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announced a major overhaul for the agency last week after an internal review revealed it did not react quickly enough to the coronavirus pandemic.

"For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for COVID-19, nd in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations," Walensky said in a statement. "My goal is a new, public health action-oriented culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication, and timeliness."

Walensky took her position in January 2021 as the Biden administration began in the middle of the pandemic. The agency has been criticized in the past for focusing on the collection and analysis of data instead of taking quick action to combat emerging public health threats.

Walensky called for an internal review of the agency to fully identify its shortcomings when it came to the coronavirus pandemic, as the United States has amassed over 90 million confirmed cases and 1 million deaths attributed to COVID over the past two-and-a-half years.

The review showed the agency's public messaging at the start of the pandemic to slow the spread were "confusing and overwhelming", according to a briefing document provided to multiple news outlets by the CDC. The full report, conducted by Jim Macrae, an administrator at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has yet to be released.

Here's some of Walensky's tentative plans to overhaul the agency over the coming months:

  • Focus on more actionable data from preprint scientific reports, instead of waiting for research to go through peer review and publication by the CDC journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
  • Reorganize the CDC's communications office and revamp agency websites to make public health guidance more easily accessible.
  • Change the length of time leaders are devoted to outbreak responses to a minimum of six months to address turnovers that have led to lapses in agency communication.
  • Create a new executive council to aid the director with strategy and priorities.
  • Establish an office of intergovernmental affairs to aid in communication with other agencies.
Walensky's proposals still need to be approved by the HHS. She has appointed Mary Wakefield as senior counselor to implement the changes moving forward.