The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, is stepping down.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the pinnacle of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is stepping down on the finish of June. In an announcement, President Biden mentioned that Walensky, quote, “leaves CDC a stronger establishment, higher positioned to confront well being threats and defend Americans.” NPR’s Selena Simmons-Duffin is right here to inform us extra in regards to the announcement and Walensky’s time on the CDC. Hey.
SELENA SIMMONS-DUFFIN, BYLINE: Hi, Juana.
SUMMERS: So, Selena, was this a shock?
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: I did hear from staffers at CDC and others within the public well being world right now who have been stunned. Walensky was simply yesterday testifying in entrance of Congress, and there was no inkling that this was going to drop. But from a political perspective, there is a sense that it was form of possibly time for her to step apart. And one clue was that the information truly broke when the White House commented on her departure. CDC’s e-mail asserting she would step down got here an hour later.
SUMMERS: OK. So remind us, for those who can, who she is and what her background was earlier than she was the pinnacle of the CDC.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: She is a doctor with a background in HIV. When President Biden appointed her, she was operating the infectious illness division at Massachusetts General Hospital, and he or she was a professor of medication at Harvard. I spoke to a number of individuals who knew her nicely when the appointment was introduced who have been simply over the moon. I imply, she was generally known as a charismatic, an extremely good chief. But this was a troublesome task. Today I spoke with Drew Altman. He’s president and CEO of KFF, and he says it is essential to recollect this context.
DREW ALTMAN: She led the CDC at maybe probably the most difficult time in its historical past, in the midst of an absolute disaster, after a time period through the Trump administration, when it had been politicized.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Remember; it was a 12 months into the pandemic. CDC had been discovered to have modified public well being steerage based mostly on political interference. There have been accusations about how knowledge was being dealt with. It was an extremely difficult second for CDC.
SUMMERS: Right. And so pondering again, in early 2021, she got here to Atlanta to run this big public well being company. How would you describe her time there?
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Well, for Americans, she grew to become a well-recognized face in common White House pandemic briefings, alongside Dr. Anthony Fauci at NIH. But even within the first 12 months, she confronted criticism for communication missteps. So, for instance, she advised folks that when you bought vaccinated, you could not unfold COVID-19. And in the summertime of 2021, extra knowledge made clear that that was not true. And that made her the goal of plenty of vitriol, particularly from Republican lawmakers and media figures.
She was additionally criticized for masks steerage and complicated booster steerage, and he or she survived requires her to go in all of these circumstances. But I’ve heard that the Biden administration was in favor of her leaving and simply could not discover a good time with out stressing the pandemic response, so it looks as if the tip of the general public well being emergency that is scheduled for subsequent week provides a pure transition.
And Altman and others give her credit score for attempting to depoliticize CDC, put it on a greater monitor. She began a reorganization that is ongoing. And Altman says she led the company with science and dignity. In Walensky’s letter to CDC employees right now, she describes her departure as one among blended feelings and wrote, quote, “I’ve by no means been prouder of something I’ve performed in my skilled profession.”
SUMMERS: OK. Last factor – any sense of who will exchange her?
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Not but. She will stay on the job via the tip of June, so there’s time. This is a presidential appointment. At this level, there is no such thing as a Senate affirmation course of, so President Biden will simply need to make his choose.
SUMMERS: OK. We’ll all watch and wait. Selena Simmons Duffin, thanks.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Thank you.
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