By Simone McCarthy
George Gao, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, resigned after five years as director of the fitness agency, ending a term that placed him at the forefront of early investigations into the first Covid-19 outbreak in central China and the country’s immediate progression of Covid-19 vaccines.
The replacement in leadership, announced Tuesday by the agency, comes amid a restructuring in which China’s CDC resigned from its position under the centrally controlled National Health Commission and was placed in a new nominally simplified office, born of calls in the era of pandemic reform.
It also comes as China continues to struggle with new COVID-19 outbreaks across the country, despite a strict zero-covid policy that has noticed strict border controls and put in place regular lockdowns and mass testing.
Gao, 60, trained at Oxford University and connected around the world, also known by his Chinese name Gao Fu, would no longer be director “because of his age,” according to the Chinese CDC report at an assembly in which he delivered the changes. Sixty years is the general retirement age of male civil servants, many do not respect it.
He would be replaced by the former president of Nanjing Medical University, Shen Hongbing, recently deputy director of the National Administration of Disease Prevention and Control, the new one established in 2021.
The update ends the tenure of a world-renowned virologist who observers say is grappling with the limitations of a company with little influence on policymaking, a key difference between China’s CDC and the U. S. company it was inspired by.
Gao oversaw the company at a time when acrimony between China and the United States was developing, compounded by questions about the origins of the coronavirus and accusations that China had suppressed its investigation.
Gao, who made presentations at foreign clinical forums in English and had professional relationships with Western scientists, and added the more sensible American epidemiologist Anthony Fauci, of great reputation within the foreign clinical network and considered an occasional point of contact with China.
“He will be remembered for having a more open mind and being willing to outperform his counterparts in Western countries,” said Yanzhong Huang, senior global fitness researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
“Under it, the Chinese CDC has a bigger role in China’s reaction to the pandemic, especially in the early stages of the outbreak, and also a vital window for the outside world to be more informed about China’s reaction to covid,” Huang said. Said.
Before the pandemic, Gao, known for his paintings in Sierra Leone, opposed an Ebola outbreak in 2014, when he was still deputy director of the Chinese CDC. He took over as director in 2017.
Gao was part of an organization of senior fitness officials who visited Wuhan, the epicenter of the first known outbreak of covid-19, before the disease became a global crisis in January 2020. China has been criticized for its moves this period, due to the three-week delay between the announcement of the outbreak through the local government and confirmation that the virus can be transmitted between people.
Gao played a key role in the first clinical papers documenting the Wuhan outbreak and then developed one of seven COVID-19 vaccines allowed to be used in China.
He also participated in studies on the origins of the virus, suggesting, contrary to recently published studies, that a Wuhan market position connected to the first instances was not where the new virus appeared, but rather a position where it could spread between people.
But it has sparked controversy in China and some in China’s public fitness network note it as a “loose cannon,” according to Huang.
In one case last year, Gao gave the impression of recommending in a presentation that Chinese vaccines had a low coverage rate, comments he later reviewed in an interview with state media in which he called it a “misunderstanding” of his views.
He was also criticized after an interview last fall with the editor-in-chief of Caijing magazine, in which he discussed situations in which China can simply implement its zero-covid policy, a sensitive issue in China, where politics is considered the leader. non-public policy. Xi Jinping.
On Tuesday, Gao, who remains vice president of China’s National Natural Science Foundation, said he supported the adjustments and would “continue to contribute to disease progression and public health. “
Gao’s departure was announced as China continues to battle outbreaks of the virus, relying on regular mass testing and instant lockdowns to control outbreaks, while most of the rest of the world has shifted to a way of life with the virus.
On Wednesday, China experienced 776 high-risk spaces in 24 cities across the country, where citizens are subject to partial or total closures, according to data from the country’s State Council.
Authorities in Wuhan, which was closed for more than two months in early 2020, said on Wednesday they would put measures in place for 3 days in the main urban district of Jiangxia District, banning its roughly 1 million citizens from leaving the district and closing several businesses and public transport. Four cases had been reported in the district the day before, according to official information.
But as head of China’s CDC, Gao himself has played a limited role in formulating a policy to respond to and control the virus, observers say, as those problems are dictated by the National Health Commission at the cabinet level, while the CDC has played a more technical role. advisory function.
“Although restricted, (Gao) did his thing to satisfy the CDC’s role as a clinical and public fitness advisor,” said Xi Chen, an associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health.
“His clinical publications at the beginning of the pandemic helped inform the world about the virus. He also advocated the publication of an English-language clinical journal, China CDC Weekly, which aimed to make communications with the global public fitness world more timely and transparent.
It’s unclear what role the company will play now that it reports to the National Administration for Disease Prevention and Control. This framework was created following calls to China’s disease prevention and control systems in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Wang Hesheng, head of the National Administration for Disease Control and Prevention, praised Gao’s contributions and set several goals for the “reform” of the CDC and its operations under the new leadership. This included adopting a “clear position on policies” and “faithfully implementing the directives and instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping. “
And because of the new structure, it is imaginable that Gao’s successor will gain more power, according to Chen. “Hopefully, empowering the Chinese CDC under Shen can accomplish everything George Gao couldn’t do,” he said.
El-CNN-Wire™
CNN’s Beijing office contributed to this report.
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