Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday that the planned reforms would improve accountability and “timely response” at the agency, which is responsible for protecting Americans from disease and other public health threats. . The CDC’s handling of the pandemic has been heavily criticized by some health experts who say it has become overly politicized and failed to collect important data needed to slow the spread of Covid or promote rapid testing. More recently, critics have raised concerns about the agency’s slow initial response to the spread of monkeypox, which was declared a public health emergency in the US this month. “For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for Covid-19, and in our big moment, our performance has fallen reliably short of expectations,” Walensky said in a statement. “I want us all to do better and it starts with the CDC leading the way. My goal is a new action-oriented public health culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication, and timeliness.”

The proposed reforms follow a review of CDC operations ordered by Walensky in April, which found that its traditional scientific and communication processes were inadequate to respond effectively to the Covid crisis. “We undoubtedly have a fragile public health infrastructure within the agency and across the country to deal with what we faced,” the CDC said. In a video sent to CDC staff Wednesday morning, Walensky, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, explained the reasons behind the reversal, telling them the agency had made some “pretty dramatic, pretty public mistakes.” , according to one person. who had received the video. The CDC has tapped Mary Wakefield, a former deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration, to lead a team to implement the reform program. It will establish an executive board to set agency priorities, monitor progress and align fiscal decisions, with a focus on public health impact. It will also create a single point of contact for external partners with the agency, according to an outline of the plan. Critics of the agency’s performance during the pandemic hailed the reforms, saying the CDC was in dire need of a reboot.

“The CDC is in desperate need of a turnaround as it has failed to follow the science and evidence [during the pandemic]said Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. He pointed to the CDC’s guidelines for a five-day isolation policy without rapid testing and the definition of two-dose vaccines as “fully immunized” as mistakes. The agency is “directly responsible” for low uptake of booster shots in the US, ignoring evidence of declining immunity for well over a year, Topol said. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said the overhaul was an important admission that the CDC’s performance had slipped when it was most needed. “To me, the CDC is hallowed ground, a place where infectious disease giants once roamed, and to see it in its current state, captured and ‘managed’ by politicians in Washington, literally disgusts me,” he said. “As part of this restructuring, the CDC must become more independent of the political process and its inherent tribalism and actually return to its core function of experienced and competent management of communicable diseases.”

title: “Top Us Health Official Admits Dramatic Mistakes In Handling Covid Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-17” author: “Louis Richeson”

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday that the planned reforms would improve accountability and “timely response” at the agency, which is responsible for protecting Americans from disease and other public health threats. . The CDC’s handling of the pandemic has been heavily criticized by some health experts who say it has become overly politicized and failed to collect important data needed to slow the spread of Covid or promote rapid testing. More recently, critics have raised concerns about the agency’s slow initial response to the spread of monkeypox, which was declared a public health emergency in the US this month. “For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for Covid-19, and in our big moment, our performance has fallen reliably short of expectations,” Walensky said in a statement. “I want us all to do better and it starts with the CDC leading the way. My goal is a new action-oriented public health culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication, and timeliness.”

The proposed reforms follow a review of CDC operations ordered by Walensky in April, which found that its traditional scientific and communication processes were inadequate to respond effectively to the Covid crisis. “We undoubtedly have a fragile public health infrastructure within the agency and across the country to deal with what we faced,” the CDC said. In a video sent to CDC staff Wednesday morning, Walensky, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, explained the reasons behind the reversal, telling them the agency had made some “pretty dramatic, pretty public mistakes.” , according to one person. who had received the video. The CDC has tapped Mary Wakefield, a former deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration, to lead a team to implement the reform program. It will establish an executive board to set agency priorities, monitor progress and align fiscal decisions, with a focus on public health impact. It will also create a single point of contact for external partners with the agency, according to an outline of the plan. Critics of the agency’s performance during the pandemic hailed the reforms, saying the CDC was in dire need of a reboot.

“The CDC is in desperate need of a turnaround as it has failed to follow the science and evidence [during the pandemic]said Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. He pointed to the CDC’s guidelines for a five-day isolation policy without rapid testing and the definition of two-dose vaccines as “fully immunized” as mistakes. The agency is “directly responsible” for low uptake of booster shots in the US, ignoring evidence of declining immunity for well over a year, Topol said. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said the overhaul was an important admission that the CDC’s performance had slipped when it was most needed. “To me, the CDC is hallowed ground, a place where infectious disease giants once roamed, and to see it in its current state, captured and ‘managed’ by politicians in Washington, literally disgusts me,” he said. “As part of this restructuring, the CDC must become more independent of the political process and its inherent tribalism and actually return to its core function of experienced and competent management of communicable diseases.”

title: “Top Us Health Official Admits Dramatic Mistakes In Handling Covid Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-30” author: “Cathy Fisher”

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday that the planned reforms would improve accountability and “timely response” at the agency, which is responsible for protecting Americans from disease and other public health threats. . The CDC’s handling of the pandemic has been heavily criticized by some health experts who say it has become overly politicized and failed to collect important data needed to slow the spread of Covid or promote rapid testing. More recently, critics have raised concerns about the agency’s slow initial response to the spread of monkeypox, which was declared a public health emergency in the US this month. “For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for Covid-19, and in our big moment, our performance has fallen reliably short of expectations,” Walensky said in a statement. “I want us all to do better and it starts with the CDC leading the way. My goal is a new action-oriented public health culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication, and timeliness.”

The proposed reforms follow a review of CDC operations ordered by Walensky in April, which found that its traditional scientific and communication processes were inadequate to respond effectively to the Covid crisis. “We undoubtedly have a fragile public health infrastructure within the agency and across the country to deal with what we faced,” the CDC said. In a video sent to CDC staff Wednesday morning, Walensky, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, explained the reasons behind the reversal, telling them the agency had made some “pretty dramatic, pretty public mistakes.” , according to one person. who had received the video. The CDC has tapped Mary Wakefield, a former deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration, to lead a team to implement the reform program. It will establish an executive board to set agency priorities, monitor progress and align fiscal decisions, with a focus on public health impact. It will also create a single point of contact for external partners with the agency, according to an outline of the plan. Critics of the agency’s performance during the pandemic hailed the reforms, saying the CDC was in dire need of a reboot.

“The CDC is in desperate need of a turnaround as it has failed to follow the science and evidence [during the pandemic]said Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. He pointed to the CDC’s guidelines for a five-day isolation policy without rapid testing and the definition of two-dose vaccines as “fully immunized” as mistakes. The agency is “directly responsible” for low uptake of booster shots in the US, ignoring evidence of declining immunity for well over a year, Topol said. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said the overhaul was an important admission that the CDC’s performance had slipped when it was most needed. “To me, the CDC is hallowed ground, a place where infectious disease giants once roamed, and to see it in its current state, captured and ‘managed’ by politicians in Washington, literally disgusts me,” he said. “As part of this restructuring, the CDC must become more independent of the political process and its inherent tribalism and actually return to its core function of experienced and competent management of communicable diseases.”

title: “Top Us Health Official Admits Dramatic Mistakes In Handling Covid Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-12” author: “Scott Casillas”

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday that the planned reforms would improve accountability and “timely response” at the agency, which is responsible for protecting Americans from disease and other public health threats. . The CDC’s handling of the pandemic has been heavily criticized by some health experts who say it has become overly politicized and failed to collect important data needed to slow the spread of Covid or promote rapid testing. More recently, critics have raised concerns about the agency’s slow initial response to the spread of monkeypox, which was declared a public health emergency in the US this month. “For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for Covid-19, and in our big moment, our performance has fallen reliably short of expectations,” Walensky said in a statement. “I want us all to do better and it starts with the CDC leading the way. My goal is a new action-oriented public health culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication, and timeliness.”

The proposed reforms follow a review of CDC operations ordered by Walensky in April, which found that its traditional scientific and communication processes were inadequate to respond effectively to the Covid crisis. “We undoubtedly have a fragile public health infrastructure within the agency and across the country to deal with what we faced,” the CDC said. In a video sent to CDC staff Wednesday morning, Walensky, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, explained the reasons behind the reversal, telling them the agency had made some “pretty dramatic, pretty public mistakes.” , according to one person. who had received the video. The CDC has tapped Mary Wakefield, a former deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration, to lead a team to implement the reform program. It will establish an executive board to set agency priorities, monitor progress and align fiscal decisions, with a focus on public health impact. It will also create a single point of contact for external partners with the agency, according to an outline of the plan. Critics of the agency’s performance during the pandemic hailed the reforms, saying the CDC was in dire need of a reboot.

“The CDC is in desperate need of a turnaround as it has failed to follow the science and evidence [during the pandemic]said Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. He pointed to the CDC’s guidelines for a five-day isolation policy without rapid testing and the definition of two-dose vaccines as “fully immunized” as mistakes. The agency is “directly responsible” for low uptake of booster shots in the US, ignoring evidence of declining immunity for well over a year, Topol said. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said the overhaul was an important admission that the CDC’s performance had slipped when it was most needed. “To me, the CDC is hallowed ground, a place where infectious disease giants once roamed, and to see it in its current state, captured and ‘managed’ by politicians in Washington, literally disgusts me,” he said. “As part of this restructuring, the CDC must become more independent of the political process and its inherent tribalism and actually return to its core function of experienced and competent management of communicable diseases.”

title: “Top Us Health Official Admits Dramatic Mistakes In Handling Covid Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-06” author: “Darlene Chadwick”

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday that the planned reforms would improve accountability and “timely response” at the agency, which is responsible for protecting Americans from disease and other public health threats. . The CDC’s handling of the pandemic has been heavily criticized by some health experts who say it has become overly politicized and failed to collect important data needed to slow the spread of Covid or promote rapid testing. More recently, critics have raised concerns about the agency’s slow initial response to the spread of monkeypox, which was declared a public health emergency in the US this month. “For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for Covid-19, and in our big moment, our performance has fallen reliably short of expectations,” Walensky said in a statement. “I want us all to do better and it starts with the CDC leading the way. My goal is a new action-oriented public health culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication, and timeliness.”

The proposed reforms follow a review of CDC operations ordered by Walensky in April, which found that its traditional scientific and communication processes were inadequate to respond effectively to the Covid crisis. “We undoubtedly have a fragile public health infrastructure within the agency and across the country to deal with what we faced,” the CDC said. In a video sent to CDC staff Wednesday morning, Walensky, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, explained the reasons behind the reversal, telling them the agency had made some “pretty dramatic, pretty public mistakes.” , according to one person. who had received the video. The CDC has tapped Mary Wakefield, a former deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration, to lead a team to implement the reform program. It will establish an executive board to set agency priorities, monitor progress and align fiscal decisions, with a focus on public health impact. It will also create a single point of contact for external partners with the agency, according to an outline of the plan. Critics of the agency’s performance during the pandemic hailed the reforms, saying the CDC was in dire need of a reboot.

“The CDC is in desperate need of a turnaround as it has failed to follow the science and evidence [during the pandemic]said Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. He pointed to the CDC’s guidelines for a five-day isolation policy without rapid testing and the definition of two-dose vaccines as “fully immunized” as mistakes. The agency is “directly responsible” for low uptake of booster shots in the US, ignoring evidence of declining immunity for well over a year, Topol said. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said the overhaul was an important admission that the CDC’s performance had slipped when it was most needed. “To me, the CDC is hallowed ground, a place where infectious disease giants once roamed, and to see it in its current state, captured and ‘managed’ by politicians in Washington, literally disgusts me,” he said. “As part of this restructuring, the CDC must become more independent of the political process and its inherent tribalism and actually return to its core function of experienced and competent management of communicable diseases.”