Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, announced Wednesday that she would make major adjustments to the company’s structure, adding personnel and effort adjustments to public messaging, after saying the company had not responded adequately to the Covid-19 pandemic. , according to several media.
In a video sent to staff Wednesday morning, Walensky admitted that the company had made “some pretty dramatic public mistakes” similar to testing, knowledge and communications in reaction to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Bloomberg, which cited an anonymous source who saw the video.
The agency’s infrastructure is “too fragile” to deal with Covid, Walensky said, according to Bloomberg.
Among the changes, Walensky plans to appoint a former Obama management fitness official, Mary Wakefield, to help reshape the CDC to focus more on public fitness; rent more staff for a team that responds to public fitness emergencies; create another new team to help spend CDC’s $12 billion annual budget; disseminate clinical knowledge and discoveries more quickly; and make sure CDC messages are in “plain language” that is easy to understand, according to the New York Times and Bloomberg.
The announcement comes after Walensky ordered a review of the company in April, which was led in part by head of resource management and fitness Jim Macrae, following widespread complaints about the company’s reaction to Covid.
“For 75 years, CDC and public fitness have been preparing for covid-19 and, in our great moment, our functionality has reliably met expectations. I need us all to do more and it all starts with the CDC in mind. My purpose is a new culture focused on public fitness action at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication, and punctuality,” Walensky said in a statement, according to several media reports.
Biden appointed Walensky to lead the CDC early in his presidency. The company has faced backlash over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, adding to delays in developing early tests, disruptions in data collection on vaccines and virus transmission, confusing recommendations on isolation and quarantine, and allowing Trump management to have too much influence over its operations. . Experts have also raised concerns about the CDC’s reaction to the ongoing global outbreak of monkeypox, which has been plagued by poor controls and slow rollout of the vaccine. Walensky briefed top executives on his plan to revamp the company on Wednesday morning before sending out a video describing the effects of the review he commissioned in April, according to Bloomberg. With the help of advisers, Walensky had been comparing the effects of the review for the past several months to devise a plan to overhaul the company, Bloomberg reported. The report, which Politico said included 120 interviews with CDC staff and others outside the company, found that the CDC was too slow to release clinical findings and insights used to inform policy decisions, and had to communicate with the public and be more agile. in his reaction to fitness shoots, according to multiple outlets.
Walensky, citing failed pandemic response, calls for reorganization of CDC (New York Times)
Review of CDC Director’s Signature After Pandemic Missteps (Bloomberg)
CDC Director Orders Review and Admits Wrong Covid-19 Reaction (Politico)
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