Written by Hudson Crozier
Director Rochelle Walensky promised to renew an “action-oriented culture” within the agency, announcing several changes to make it more efficient.
Need for speed: Leaders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) outlined several changes to make the agency run more efficiently. These include editing websites, altering employment length, a new executive council, and other organizational steps.
They’re missing a big problem: Many of the CDC’s failures regarding COVID-19 have little to do with speed and more with integrity.
- It advocated masking kids in schools based on flawed research.
- It changed quarantine guidelines after airlines asked it to, not for any scientific reason.
- It admitted to withholding data about vaccines to maintain public confidence.
- It admitted to exaggerating pandemic deaths among children by 24%.
Crossing the line: The CDC also restricted the freedoms of millions with pandemic lockdowns and mandates, going as far as tracking private location data to monitor compliance. The agency then collaborated with Big Tech to censor those who voiced concerns about the vaccine
Big picture: The CDC lost respect due to data-based errors and harsh authority—causing only 44% of Americans and 22% of Republicans to trust the institution. The new promises for speed and organization don’t address its fundamental flaws.