CDC Director Rochelle Walensky is reorganizing the agency, saying it hasn’t responded quickly enough during the Covid pandemic, according to an internal review of the agency’s operations released Wednesday.
Walensky outlined a number of organizational changes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will make in the coming months to correct the mistakes and failures that have occurred over the past 2.5 years of the pandemic, according to a fact sheet.
“For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for COVID-19, and in our critical moment, our performance has not reliably met expectations,” Walensky said. in a statement. “My goal is a new, action-oriented, public health culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication, and timeliness.”
The central goals of the reorganization are focused on sharing scientific data more quickly and making health guidance easier for the public to understand, according to press conference documents. Walensky made the assessment in April after a winter spike in infections from the omicron variant hampered the nation’s public health response.
The CDC has repeatedly faced criticism during the pandemic for confusing public health recommendations and for releasing data too slowly through retrospective reports that have been surpassed by the spread of the virus. rapid spread of the virus. Public health experts are often disappointed that pandemic press conferences are based on data from other countries, such as the UK and Israel.
Walensky is appointing an executive to lead a team that will implement the changes. CDC will also form a new executive committee that reports directly to Walensky to identify key agency priorities supported by budgetary decisions.
The agency’s laboratory science and science divisions, which play an important role in investigating and tracking public health threats like Covid, will also report to the CDC director.
CDC is also creating an office of equity to ensure the agency’s workforce reflects the US population and better communicates public health guidance to all groups.
