May 8, 2023 – Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the head of the CDC, is resigning from her position, citing the ending of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her last day will be June 30.
Walensky has been the director of the CDC for a little over two years, serving in this role in the height of the pandemic. Her arrival at the A report from the Associated Press said, “At the time of her arrival, more than 400,000 U.S. COVID-19 deaths had been reported, and states were scrambling to get supplies of new vaccines.” She faced overwhelming challenges, but under her leadership the CDC became the prominent voice in government messaging regarding COVID safety protocols. Walensky also started a center for forecasting and outbreak analytics, and even made efforts to modernize data collection and analysis. In 2022, she reorganized the CDC to be “more nimble and improve its communications with the public.”
Her resignation announcement comes on the heels of a couple of developments regarding the pandemic. The WHO announced last week that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, and the public emergency in the US ends on May 11.