SÃO PAULO, SP (FOLHAPRESS) – US CDC (Disease Control and Prevention) director Rochelle Walinsky publicly condemned the way the health agency handled the Covid pandemic under her leadership on Wednesday (17). According to her, the agency failed to respond quickly to the crisis and its structure needs to be reconsidered. Information from The New York Times.
Walinsky outlined a plan to reorganize the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at a meeting with his senior team. The goals are to prioritize public health needs and efforts to contain disease outbreaks and reduce the focus on publishing scientific articles on rare diseases.
The now-announced measures stemmed from an external review that Walinsky requested in April, after months of receiving criticism over his performance during the pandemic. His critics said that public messages about wearing masks and other Covid prevention measures were sometimes so confusing or changed so abruptly that they seemed more like drafts than guidelines for the public.
“For 75 years, the CDC and public health have prepared for Covid-19, and in our big moment, our performance has not lived up to expectations,” Walinsky said. “My goal is a new, action-oriented public health culture at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication, and speed.”
His plan, which was also shown in a video for the agency’s 11,000-plus employees, is not specific. But it was well received by at least some of the agency’s senior staff, as well as outside public health experts.
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