CDC Director to Resign

WASHINGTON — Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, who acknowledged her agency’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic “did not meet expectations,” is stepping down as director of the CDC, the White House announced Friday.

“Dr. Walensky has saved lives with her steadfast and unwavering focus on the health of every American,” President Biden said in a brief statement. “As director of the CDC, she led a complex organization on the frontlines of a once-in-a-generation pandemic with honesty and integrity. She marshalled our finest scientists and public health experts to turn the tide on the urgent crises we’ve faced.”

“Dr. Walensky leaves CDC a stronger institution, better positioned to confront health threats and protect Americans,” Biden’s statement continued. “We have all benefited from her service and dedication to public health, and I wish her the best in her next chapter.”

In her resignation letter to the president, Walensky said the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) on May 11 “marks a tremendous transition for our country, for public health, and in my tenure as CDC Director. I took on this role, at your request, with the goal of leaving behind the dark days of the pandemic and moving CDC — and public health — forward into a much better and more trusted place. In the process, we saved and improved lives and protected the country and the world from the greatest infectious disease threat we have seen in over 100 years.”

In a press release Friday announcing her departure, the CDC said Walensky “has led CDC through a transition to greater normalcy across the country, after two years of COVID-19 related closures and waves of dangerous, new virus variants. She also launched Moving Forward – a wide-ranging set of reforms designed to strengthen CDC communications and response operations.”

No reason was given for Walensky’s departure, which will become effective at the end of June. The announcement comes on the same day that the agency said it will cease its reporting of COVID-19 cases, deaths, and transmission rates in conjunction with the end of the PHE. The agency also will stop publishing its COVID Community Level data, although it will continue to track hospitalizations.

Prior to joining the CDC, Walensky was chief of the infectious disease division at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and also was a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.