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CDC

Walensky reworks CDC

with new leadership
and offices after
pandemic missteps
by Abigail Adcox, Healthcare Reporter | !
January 25, 2023 02:47 PM

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Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky
has hired new leadership and formed
new offices within the agency in an
effort to revitalize the agency's public
health response following criticism
over its handling of the coronavirus
pandemic.

Walensky is establishing an Office of

Public Health Data, Surveillance, and
Technology to monitor public health
threats in addition to reconfiguring so
that more CDC divisions report directly
to her, a source with knowledge of the
details told Bloomberg.

CDC DIRECTOR WALENSKY LAYS

OUT AGENCY OVERHAUL AFTER
BOTCHED PANDEMIC RESPONSE

“CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky is

reorganizing the agency so that it can
respond faster and communicate its
science and research more clearly,"
Jasmine Reed, a press aid to Walensky,
told the Washington Examiner in a
statement. "The reorganization is one
step in a series of efforts designed to
strengthen how CDC operates —
orienting it toward timely action —
ensuring CDC’s science reaches the
public in a clear, accessible and
implementable manner."

The agency has also created a director

for external affairs position to
strengthen the agency's relationships
with other agencies, nonprofit
organizations, industry groups, and
others, along with overseeing a new
leadership team.

The announcements were relayed to

employees at an in-person town hall at
the CDC's headquarters in Atlanta. The
agency has made several
organizational changes already,
creating a division dedicated to
coronavirus and respiratory viruses at
the CDC's National Center for
Immunization and Respiratory
Diseases.

FILE - Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies during a
Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Committee hearing to examine an update on the
federal response to COVID-19, June 16, 2022, on Capitol
Hill in Washington.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

Walensky first outlined plans for an

overhaul of the agency last summer
after a monthslong review led by a
group of internal and external advisers
found that it needed to prioritize
public health needs faster and improve
the agency's communication with the
public.

“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 a statement at the
time. “My goal is a new, public health
action-oriented culture at CDC that
emphasizes accountability,
collaboration, communication, and
timeliness."

Walensky admitted at the time that

the CDC was not prepared to handle
the country's response to the
pandemic, noting it had made public
mistakes about testing, data, and
communications.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM

THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The CDC has been criticized for its

public health guidance and vaccine
distribution, among other missteps
during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Republicans criticized the agency for
its advocacy of masking and social
distancing.

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