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Posted
August 19, 2022

Following COVID missteps, CDC plans major overhaul

Following a series of missteps in the COVID-19 pandemic and monkeypox outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will undergo an “ambitious” overhaul, its director announced Wednesday (Source: “In an effort to address its missteps during Covid, CDC plans an ‘ambitious’ agency overhaul,” STAT News, Aug. 17).

In an email to staff, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the renewal effort will focus on making the agency more nimble and responsive to needs that arise in health emergencies. The priority will be to gather data that can be used to rapidly dispense public health guidance, rather than craft scientific papers.

Walensky also said the agency needs to acknowledge the flaws of its response to Covid-19. Those mistakes date to the earliest days of the pandemic, when a test designed by CDC scientists to detect the new disease failed to work on the ground — leaving the country blind to how quickly the SARS-CoV-2 virus was transmitting at a critical juncture when aggressive measures could have slowed Covid’s spread.

“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 the email, sent to the agency’s 11,000-person staff.  “My goal is a new, public health action-oriented culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication, and timeliness.”

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