Seventy-five years of preparation for an outbreak like that of COVID-19—and yet, the CDC still failed to “reliably meet expectations” in addressing the crisis. That’s according to an August 2022 admission from Dr. Rochelle Walensky, President Joe Biden’s director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This admission was stunning, but it was also unavoidable. The agency needs work.
As Walensky conceded, it failed to provide the public and public health authorities with clear and consistent messaging, and it failed to coordinate effectively with other public health agencies. It also failed at collecting and disseminating relevant data in real time to state public health authorities and the public more broadly.
Worse, its school closure guidance and COVID-19 vaccine recommendations (especially for children) were both politicized and…
