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Dr. Erica Schwartz takes over an agency that has lost more than 3,000 workers through layoffs and resignations.

The CDC’s new director opened her first meeting with the full staff by conceding what most of them already knew: the agency is short-handed, its people are exhausted, and programs Congress paid for aren’t functioning.

Dr. Erica Schwartz, who took over the Atlanta-based agency last week after a string of temporary leaders, spoke at her inaugural all-hands gathering Wednesday. The Associated Press, which reviewed a recording of the meeting, reported that she referenced its recent story on CDC initiatives that retain congressional funding but have effectively gone dormant because the employees who ran them were laid off or remain on leave.

Schwartz offered no specific plan for reviving those programs or easing the strain on remaining staff, saying instead that she intends to meet with employees to better understand the landscape.

She framed her arrival itself as the immediate improvement. “The good news is, I’m here,” she said, arguing that the prolonged leadership vacuum made effective advocacy for the agency difficult.

The numbers behind that vacuum are substantial. As reported by the AP, the CDC has shed more than 3,000 employees through layoffs and resignations, exceeding a quarter of its workforce, while political appointees without medical or public health backgrounds have staffed the front office.

Schwartz was direct about how she plans to handle friction with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. She said she would not hesitate to disagree with him when warranted, but would do so privately, attributing the instinct to her background in the uniformed services with the Coast Guard and Public Health Service.

Disagreements, she said, would not play out in front of the media. She also pledged to rebuild public confidence through transparency, scientific rigor and honest communication, language that closely tracks Kennedy’s own.

Staff pressed her on President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking revised childhood vaccine recommendations built around his long-standing and discredited claim that shots should be spread across separate visits. Schwartz said a task force on childhood vaccine safety is forming, that she sits on it, and that it has 90 days to report back, though it has not yet convened.

Reaction from within was measured. The National Public Health Coalition, made up of current and former CDC workers, said the agency needs a leader who follows the science and resists political pressure, adding that trust “must be earned through action.”

More at TheGrio

TheGrio...

Dr. Erica Schwartz takes over an agency that has lost more than 3,000 workers through layoffs and resignations.

The CDC’s new director opened her first meeting with the full staff by conceding what most of them already knew: the agency is short-handed, its people are exhausted, and programs Congress paid for aren’t functioning.

Dr. Erica Schwartz, who took over the Atlanta-based agency last week after a string of temporary leaders, spoke at her inaugural all-hands gathering Wednesday. The Associated Press, which reviewed a recording of the meeting, reported that she referenced its recent story on CDC initiatives that retain congressional funding but have effectively gone dormant because the employees who ran them were laid off or remain on leave.

Schwartz offered no specific plan for reviving those programs or easing the strain on remaining staff, saying instead that she intends to meet with employees to better understand the landscape.

She framed her arrival itself as the immediate improvement. “The good news is, I’m here,” she said, arguing that the prolonged leadership vacuum made effective advocacy for the agency difficult.

The numbers behind that vacuum are substantial. As reported by the AP, the CDC has shed more than 3,000 employees through layoffs and resignations, exceeding a quarter of its workforce, while political appointees without medical or public health backgrounds have staffed the front office.

Schwartz was direct about how she plans to handle friction with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. She said she would not hesitate to disagree with him when warranted, but would do so privately, attributing the instinct to her background in the uniformed services with the Coast Guard and Public Health Service.

Disagreements, she said, would not play out in front of the media. She also pledged to rebuild public confidence through transparency, scientific rigor and honest communication, language that closely tracks Kennedy’s own.

Staff pressed her on President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking revised childhood vaccine recommendations built around his long-standing and discredited claim that shots should be spread across separate visits. Schwartz said a task force on childhood vaccine safety is forming, that she sits on it, and that it has 90 days to report back, though it has not yet convened.

Reaction from within was measured. The National Public Health Coalition, made up of current and former CDC workers, said the agency needs a leader who follows the science and resists political pressure, adding that trust “must be earned through action.”

More at TheGrio