President Joe Biden stated that Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, is leaving the organisation.
In a statement, Walensky, who is departing at the end of June, said: “The end of the COVID-19 public health emergency marks a tremendous transition for our country, for public health, and in my tenure as CDC Director.”
She stated that her objective was “leaving behind the dark days of the pandemic and moving CDC — and public health — forward into a much better and more trusted place.”
In the process, according to Walensky, “we improved lives, saved lives, and shielded the nation and the world from the greatest infectious disease threat we have seen in more than a century.”
In a statement, Biden added, “She led a complex organisation on the front lines of a once-in-a-generation pandemic with honesty and integrity.” Dr. Walensky departs from the CDC with a stronger organisation that is better equipped to address health challenges and defend Americans.
The vice president continued, “I wish her the best in her future chapter. We have all benefited from her devotion and dedication to public health.
Dr. Robert Redfield, who served as the CDC director for the majority of former President Donald Trump’s term, will be replaced as director of the agency by Walensky, who was chosen by Biden, in December 2020.
According to the hospital’s website, Walensky served as the infectious diseases division leader at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School before being appointed director.
According to her biography on the CDC website, she started her career at the height of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the 1980s, spent time in South Africa enhancing HIV screening and care, and also served as chair of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council for a short period of time.
In January 2021, Walensky was appointed director at a time when public health experts claimed the organisation was suffering from a lack of public trust as a result of errors made in the early stages of the pandemic and political involvement.
She oversaw the successful distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine and the clearance of revised boosters, but her stint at the CDC was not without its flaws, as she admitted in a review done last summer.
Walensky stated this in an internal video to staff in August 2022 that ABC News at the time watched. “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 remarked. “To be honest, we’ve made some fairly spectacular, pretty visible blunders. from data to communications to testing.
“We’re all being urged to work together to look ahead and strengthen the CDC to meet the challenges that lie ahead. This is a turning point for us, she continued.
It happens after the agency’s performance during the COVID-19 epidemic was criticised in an internal assessment that Walensky requested in April 2022.
According to findings obtained by ABC News at the time, the review found that the CDC “takes too long to publish its data and science for decision making,” that its guidance is “confusing and overwhelming,” and that agency staff turnover during the COVID-19 response “created gaps and other challenges for partners.”
Walensky issued a “ambitious” order to reorganise the organisation in response, including the formation of a new executive council under his direct control to “determine agency priorities, track progress, and align budget decisions, with a bias towards public health impact.”
