Geoff: It was three years ago
this month when the U.S. Began
shutting down due to the
explosive spread of covid-19.
The country is now into its
fourth year with the virus, and
it's fair to say that to many
people, the pandemic is over.
But covid isn't done with us.
The CDC reports there were
nearly 2300 deaths tied to covid
over the last week, and more
than 3000 people hospitalized
each day with it on average.
Throughout the pandemic, the
centers for disease control and
prevention has been criticized
for its response, and the agency
is now undergoing a major
reorganization after an internal
review identified shortcomings.
I'm joined now by CDC director
Dr. Rochelle walensky.
Welcome back.
Dr. Walensky: Thank you for
having me.
Geoff: You said the CDC failed
to respond quickly enough to the
pandemic and the agency was
responsible for public mistakes.
What are you doing to address
it?
Dr. Walensky: I feel like our
responsibility now is to be the
public health agency of the
future and to be sure that we
are prepared for every next
public health emergency that we
face.
We've done a huge amount of work
within the agency.
You mentioned reorganization,
but much more work than that,
including increasing the
rapidity at which we get science
out, how that science gets out
how we communicate it and how,
, how quickly we're able to
communicate it.
And then really being a response
based agency where we've always
been known as an academic
science based agency, but we
also need to be a response based
agency where we're ready to
respond.
So much of the work that we're
doing within the agency is
critically important.
But we also really need help
from congress to be all that we
can be in public health.
Geoff: A question about the CDC
being a response based agency.
We talked with a number of
public health experts in advance
of speaking with you and nearly
all of them pointed to what they
saw was the biggest, perhaps
toughest challenge, which is
changing the culture at the CDC.
As you mentioned, it is an
academic institution, but it has
to be a nimble, action focused
agency.
How are you going to accomplish
that?
Because reorganization by itself
might not be enough.
Dr. Walensky: I've said exactly
that to the agency.
The reorganization was necessary
but not sufficient for the work
that we need to do.
We have been known as an
exceptional science based agency
and we need to be a response
based agency.
We have a responsibility such
that when there is a public
health urgency and emergency
that we have a public health
workforce within CDC and truly
around the country that has
-- they're driven and responder
based.
We're doing a lot of training
within the agency.
In part of our reorganization,
we have escalated the readiness
and response based office
directly into the immediate
office of the director.
And there's a real motivation
within the agency toward that
change.
That said, we're doing all of
these efforts within the agency.
But this is again another one of
those areas where it would be
super helpful to have
congressional support.
We don't enjoy many of the
authorities that response stage
based agencies like FEMA do
enjoy.
For example, overtime pay or
danger pay or direct hiring
authorities.
Those are some of the
authorities from human resource
perspective.
Those would be incredibly
helpful for us to be the full
response based agency that we
need to be.
Geoff: What about data sharing?
Does the CDC have the authority
it needs to compel states to
share data?
I ask the question because the
U.S. Was relying on data from
Israel to make recommendations
for booster shots for Americans
and that raised a lot of
questions and concerns.
There's been a criticism that
the CDC hasn't shared
information as quickly as it
needs to.
Dr. Walensky: Yeah, I'm glad you
asked that question.
We do need to share our data
faster when we get it.
And we have been actively doing
that.
And I think you can see some of
the responses from our impacts
response about how we were
getting our data out faster.
We've decreased our scientific
clearance time by 50%.
More work is happening there.
But you raise a really critical
point, and that is, when people
ask CDC for data, the most
important question is does CDC
have the data that is being
asked of us?
As you note, we rely on data
coming in from 3000 counties and
jurisdictions 64 states and our
, territories and 574 tribes,
and they all report the those
data voluntarily.
Often those data are not
standardized.
And in fact, with the end of the
public health emergency for
covid specifically, we will lose
the receipt as much of the data
that people are traditionally
used to seeing from the CDC.
And that's another place where
we are asking for congressional
support to help with those data
authorities so we can
standardize the data, receive
the data and then importantly,
feed it back to the American
people and feed it back to those
jurisdictions so they know
what's happening around them.
Geoff: Is there a way to
insulate the CDC from partisan
influence, from the political
whims of the day?
Dr. Walensky: You know, so much
of what we need to do is
foundational in the science that
we deliver, and yet we need to
understand the dialogue of the
policies around us and recognize
that health is not in a vacuum.
As we are delivering in our
school-based guidance, we really
do need to understand the
intersection of the department
of education.
As we are looking at our health
care guidance, we really need to
understand how we intersect at
our department of labor.
So much of what we need to do is
foundational in the science that
we deliver, and then it is
critically important that we
intersect with some of these
other places across the
government.
So that that those policies that
are scientifically based can
actually be implement it on the
ground.
Geoff: Covid has been part of
our lives for nearly four years
now.
Is the U.S. Better prepared,
better positioned to respond to
the next pandemic?
Dr. Walensky: We are doing that
work right now.
And so much of that work is in
bolstering our public health
workforce in the CDC and across
the country, bolstering our
laboratories and data systems
across the country.
What I will say is we started on
a very frail under invested
public health infrastructure,
and I know people are tired of
talking about the pandemic.
But we started with a frail
public health infrastructure.
We've made great strides, but we
are not where we need to be to
be fully prepared for the next
pandemic, and that is the hard
work we have ahead and the real
reason that we need ongoing
investments in public health.
Geoff: Lastly, the Biden
administration as you mentioned,
plans to end the emergency
declarations tied to covid-19 in
may.
There are more than 3000 people
hospitalized each day with this
virus.
There are vulnerable
communities, people with
pre-existing conditions, older
Americans, who feel they are
left to fend for themselves and
everybody else has moved on.
What would you say in your
capacity as the director of the
CDC to those folks?
Dr. Walensky: I would say that
whether or not there is a
declared public health
emergency, our mission is
unchanged with regard to
covid-19 and to protecting the
health, safety and security of
all Americans.
We will continue to work on
covid-19 and all other health
public health threats with the
ongoing investment and vigor as
we've had during the public
health emergency.