The head of the top US public health agency on Wednesday announced a shake-up of the organization, saying it fell short responding to COVID-19 and needs to become more nimble.
The planned changes at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which its leaders call a “reset,” come amid criticism of the agency’s response to COVID-19, monkeypox and other public health threats. The changes include internal staffing moves and steps to speed up data releases.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told the agency’s staff about the changes on Wednesday.
Photo: Reuters
It is a CDC initiative, and was not directed by the White House or other administration officials, she said.
“I feel like it’s my my responsibility to lead this agency to a better place after a really challenging three years,” Walensky told The Associated Press.
The Atlanta-based agency, with a US$12 billion budget and more than 11,000 employees, is charged with protecting Americans from disease outbreaks and other public health threats. It is customary for each CDC director to do some reorganizing, but Walensky’s action comes amid a wider demand for change.
The agency has long been criticized as too ponderous, focusing on collection and analysis of data, but not acting quickly against new health threats.
Public unhappiness with the agency grew dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts said the CDC was slow to recognize how much virus was entering the US from Europe, to recommend people wear masks, to say that the virus can spread through the air and to ramp up systematic testing for new variants.
“We saw during COVID that CDC’s structures, frankly, weren’t designed to take in information, digest it and disseminate it to the public at the speed necessary,” Yale School of Public Health policy researcher Jason Schwartz said.
Walensky, who became director in January last year, has long said the agency has to move faster and communicate better, but stumbles have continued during her tenure. In April, she called for an in-depth review of the agency, which resulted in the announced changes.
“It’s not lost on me that we fell short in many ways” responding to the pandemic, Walensky said. “We had some pretty public mistakes, and so much of this effort was to hold up the mirror ... to understand where and how we could do better.”
Her reorganization proposal must be approved by the US Department of Health and Human Services secretary.
CDC officials said they hope to have a full package of changes finalized, approved and under way by early next year.
Some changes still are being formulated, but steps announced on Wednesday include: Increasing use of preprint scientific reports; restructuring the agency’s communications office; shortening the time of outbreak responses to a minimum of six months to prevent knowledge gaps caused by employee turnover; and undoing some of the changes made during the administration of former US president Donald Trump.
Walensky said she intends to “get rid of some of the reporting layers that exist, and I’d like to work to break down some of the silos.”
She did not say exactly what that may entail, but emphasized that the overall changes are less about redrawing the organization chart than rethinking how the CDC does business and motivates staff.
“This will not be simply moving boxes” on the organization chart, she said.
Schwartz said flaws in the federal response go beyond the CDC, because the White House and other agencies were heavily involved.
A CDC reorganization is a positive step, but “I hope it’s not the end of the story,” Schwartz said.
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