Walensky reworks CDC with new leadership and offices after pandemic missteps
Abigail Adcox
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky has hired new leadership and formed new offices within the agency in an effort to revitalize the agency’s public health response following criticism over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Walensky is establishing an Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology to monitor public health threats in addition to reconfiguring so that more CDC divisions report directly to her, a source with knowledge of the details told Bloomberg.
CDC DIRECTOR WALENSKY LAYS OUT AGENCY OVERHAUL AFTER BOTCHED PANDEMIC RESPONSE
The agency has also created a director for external affairs position to strengthen the agency’s relationships with other agencies, nonprofit organizations, industry groups, and others, along with overseeing a new leadership team.
The announcements were relayed to employees at an in-person town hall at the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta. The agency has made several organizational changes already, creating a division dedicated to coronavirus and respiratory viruses at the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
Walensky first outlined plans for an overhaul of the agency last summer after a monthslong review led by a group of internal and external advisers found that it needed to prioritize public health needs faster and improve the agency’s communication with the public.
“For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for COVID-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations,” Walensky said in a statement at the time. “My goal is a new, public health action-oriented culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication, and timeliness.”
Walensky admitted at the time that the CDC was not prepared to handle the country’s response to the pandemic, noting it had made public mistakes about testing, data, and communications.
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The CDC has been criticized for its public health guidance and vaccine distribution, among other missteps during the COVID-19 pandemic. Republicans criticized the agency for its advocacy of masking and social distancing.