CDC chief admits agency failed on virus response

The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Wednesday that the nation's top public health agency will undergo major changes, saying that its COVID-19 response fell short and it must respond better and faster to public health emergencies.

"For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for COVID-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky admitted in a statement on Wednesday. "My goal is a new, public health, action-oriented culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication and timeliness. I want us all to do better and it starts with CDC leading the way."

Walensky, who was appointed to the CDC's top post last year, outlined the changes in broad terms in an email to CDC employees on Wednesday. These include internal staffing moves, an overhaul of how the agency analyzes and shares data, as well as changes to how the CDC quickly communicates information to the public.

The CDC has faced widespread criticism throughout the pandemic for its slow response and often confusing messaging on masking and other mitigation measures. Health experts said the agency was too slow in its recommendations for people to wear masks and to set up testing for new variants. More recently, it has been criticized for its response to the monkeypox virus.

In April, Walensky called for an in-depth review of the CDC to "refine and modernize" the agency, she wrote in the email to employees, which resulted in the announced changes.

She turned to a longtime official within the Health and Human Services Department, Jim Macrae, to lead the review. His full report is expected to be made public sometime this week.

Richard Besser, former acting CDC director and current president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said overhauling the agency's public messaging is "absolutely essential".

"A lot of the scientists at CDC are really good at doing science, and a lot of the responders are really good at doing response. But that doesn't mean they're good at explaining it in ways that will be useful to the general public," he told NBC News.

"There's been a loss of trust at CDC, and to regain trust, you have to have transparency. That means sharing all the findings and make the case for why these are the best approaches to addressing the deficiencies that are found."