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As the distance between Americans and the COVID-19 pandemic grows, Americans still cannot honestly assess the performance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, making meaningful reform even more out of reach. The CDC’s “independent” review was something else entirely.
CDC leaders, in collaboration with other federal officials, evaluated their own performance and agency structure and concluded that the CDC needs to focus on communicating with the American public and sharing data more quickly. rice field. One million dead Americans, thousands of frontline nurses and doctors deserve better.
Citizens must demand and Congress must honor those who died by undertaking the hard work of CDC reform. Transforming the agency workforce to change that culture.
Despite its previous successes in combating Ebola and H1N1 influenza, the agency’s mission and culture have shifted from its roots as a public health preparedness and response agency to an academic focus on publication. siled organizations. As New York City hospital morgues overflow and bodies pile up in refrigerated trucks, CDC bureaucrats work from home, issue outdated public health guidance, promote school closures, and uncheck the economy through eviction moratoriums. Engaged in regulation.
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Two years after the worst pandemic in a century, many government agencies are still working remotely. This is not the public health agency America needs.
This country needs an agile, action-oriented public health agency. Government staff need to be ‘ready’. That means it should be ready to deploy to help with public health emergencies. This includes epidemiologists, physicians, and technical staff. Government agencies also need a clear chain of command instead of an unwieldy leadership team of more than 10 direct reports.
Fortunately, we have an existing neglected uniform service that can do just that. It is the United States Public Health Service (USPHS). By integrating this workforce as the CDC’s primary staffing vehicle, the agency will have a unified service that can be quickly deployed in an emergency, such as Ebola, a foodborne illness outbreak, or another pandemic. By focusing on action rather than publication, USPHS helps the CDC refocus on preparedness and response.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been criticized and ridiculed from all sides following its response to the coronavirus pandemic. (iStock)
Such efforts require an honest account of the CDC. This includes an assessment of what roles are needed and whether those roles should be filled by civilians or uniformed services. By changing the CDC’s personnel, we can combat the organizational laziness that has taken a heavy toll over the past two years.
Recent efforts by Washington insiders do not represent true reform or reverse deep-rooted existing problems. Dangerous Public Health Echo He Chambers is making self-reinforcing recommendations and seeking to impose an obligation on ordinary Americans, along with local and state governments, to share public health and medical data. This is the exact opposite of recent history. The CDC has successfully modeled other disease outbreaks without data mandates, and when it failed during the pandemic, Johns said he wanted private sector entities like the Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center to take up the data mantle. I was.
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This is a classic example of ignoring real problems. What is needed is to create standards for data reporting. The technology and mobile phone industries are working together to set wireless standards such as Bluetooth that allow mobile phones to connect to cars and computers. A similar effort is needed in public health, as public health reporting should not rely on facsimiles.
But before we invest more money in modernizing our health data systems, we need accountability. The CDC has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on data systems over the past decade, and there is little to show for it.
Americans see a real problem because they can’t hold the CDC accountable for the debacle of CDC and Washington insiders’ inappropriate obsession with data mandates. Reform is not easy, but we cannot allow the stage to be set for government agencies that have failed in their original mission to fight epidemics.
