CDC’s New Leadership Faces Challenges

Erica Schwartz, the newly appointed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), engaged with staff members to discuss the current morale within the agency. Schwartz’s appointment follows a year-long period without formal leadership after former Director Susan Monarez was dismissed after less than a month in charge. Schwartz inherits an agency that faced significant layoffs and a tragic shooting incident at its Atlanta headquarters.

During an all-staff meeting, Schwartz acknowledged the agency’s morale issues. I am here asking you to give me the benefit of the doubt and to work with me as I go through our listening sessions to help me rebuild the trust that may have been lost, Schwartz expressed. She emphasized that earning trust is essential to improving morale. I will do what I need to do to earn your trust, she added.

A staff member raised concerns about fear in the workplace, revealing anxiety about asking questions due to potential reprimand. Schwartz apologized for the psychological distress felt by employees and assured them of her commitment to addressing their concerns.

Questions were also raised about vaccine policy, particularly after a federal judge disbanded the agency’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and President Trump’s executive order focusing on reducing childhood immunizations. Schwartz promised to involve the CDC in reviewing the executive order. We are going to be looking at that executive order. Does it make sense? What are the pieces that we like? What are the pieces that we don’t like? Schwartz stated. She plans to use reconstituted ACIP findings in policy discussions.