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The head of the nation’s top public health agency on Wednesday announced a shake-up of the organization, saying it fell short responding to COVID-19 and needs to become more nimble. The planned changes at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — CDC leaders call it a “reset”— come amid criticism of the agency’s response to COVID-19, monkeypox and other public health threats. The changes include internal staffing moves and steps to speed up data releases. (Stobbe, 8/17)

The changes will include elevating the laboratory division to report to the CDC’s director and restructuring the communications office, according to a CDC official with knowledge of the plans. Dr. Walensky wants to shift the CDC’s culture from highly academic to focus more on preparedness and response, the official said. Dr. Walensky also wants additional funding and more authority for the CDC on matters including mandating data collection from states, changes that would require action from lawmakers, the official said. (Abbott, 8/17)

Walensky also said the agency needs to acknowledge the flaws of its response to Covid-19. Those mistakes date to the earliest days of the pandemic, when a test designed by CDC scientists to detect the new disease failed to work on the ground — leaving the country blind to how quickly the SARS-CoV-2 virus was transmitting at a critical juncture when aggressive measures could have slowed Covid’s spread. That error happened on Walensky’s predecessor’s watch. But the agency has continued to struggle since her arrival at the beginning of the Biden administration, notably with confusing messaging about how long people who have been infected need to isolate to try to prevent onward transmission. (Branswell, 8/17)

“To be frank, we are responsible for some pretty dramatic, pretty public mistakes, from testing to data to communications,” she said in a video distributed to the agency’s roughly 11,000 employees. Dr. Walensky said the C.D.C.’s future depended on whether it could absorb the lessons of the last few years, during which much of the public lost trust in the agency’s ability to handle a pandemic that has killed more than 1 million Americans. “This is our watershed moment. We must pivot,” she said. (LaFraniere and Weiland, 8/17)

The review, led by Jim Macrae, an official in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), included findings such as that the CDC should “share scientific findings and data faster,” according to a top-line summary released by the CDC, and “be transparent about the agency’s current level of understanding.” The CDC said Wednesday that it is taking a number of steps to change its culture and prioritize direct public health impact over a more academic mindset.   (Sullivan, 8/17)