CDC Director Announces Organization Restructuring, Blaming COVID Mistakes

On Wednesday, the head of the country's top public health agency announced a restructuring to address issues such as: He said the response was inadequate. We need to be more agile in response to COVID-19.

Changes Planned at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — CDC Leaders Call It “Reset” — Amid Criticism of Agency Response to COVID-19 ,monkeypox and other public health threats. Changes include internal staffing changes and procedures to speed up data release.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told agency staff about the change on Wednesday. She said this was her CDC initiative and not directed by the White House or other senior government officials.

"After three really difficult years for her, I feel it is my responsibility to lead this institution to a better place," said Warren. Ski told her Associated Press.

The Atlanta-based agency has a $12 billion budget, more than 11,000 employees, It is tasked with protecting against disease outbreaks and other infectious diseases. public health threat. While it is customary for each CDC director to make some reorganization, Wallenski's actions came within a broader demand for change. focus on health, but has long been criticized for being too heavy-handed for not acting swiftly in response to new health threats. increased dramatically. Experts say the CDC is aware of the amount of virus that has entered the United States from Europe, recommends people wear masks, says the virus can spread through the air, and systematically kills new variants. It took me some time to harden my tests.

"Frankly, she confirmed during COVID that the structure of the CDC was not designed to take in information, digest it, and disseminate it to the public at the speed required," he said. Yale University of Public Health.

Wallenski, who took over as director in January 2021, has long said agencies need to move faster and communicate better. I kept stumbling. In April, she called for a detailed review of the agency, resulting in the announced changes.

I will never forget that," Warenski said. "We made some pretty public mistakes. A lot of this effort was to lift the mirror. It was about figuring out where and how we could improve."

While some changes are still being worked out, the steps announced Wednesday are:

• Rather than wait for the study to pass peer review , published by the CDC journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which increases the use of preprint scientific reports to obtain actionable data.
• Agency Communications Her office will be restructured and the CDC website will be further revamped to make public agency guidance clearer and easier to find.
• Changing the time agency leaders devote to outbreak response to a minimum of six months is an effort to address turnover issues that sometimes cause knowledge gaps and impact agency communications. .
• Creation of a new Executive Council to help Wallenski set strategy and priorities.
• Appoint Mary Wakefield as Senior Counselor to implement the changes. Wakefield led the Department of Health Resource Services during the Obama administration and served as second director of HHS. Wakefield, 68, started Monday.
• Change the organization chart of the agency to undo some changes made during the Trump administration.
• Office of Intergovernmental Affairs to facilitate partnerships with other agencies, and establish a higher level office on health equity.

Wallenski also said, "We're going to remove some of the existing reporting layers, and we want to work to break down some of the silos." While he didn't say exactly, he stressed that the overall change was not a redrawing of the org chart, but a rethinking of how the CDC conducts business and motivates its staff.

"This is more than just moving boxes on the org chart," she said.

Schwartz said the flaws in the federal response extend beyond the CDC, as the White House and other agencies were heavily involved.

He said the restructuring was a positive step, but added, "I hope that's not the end of the story."