U.S. CDC acknowledges falling short in response to COVID-19

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- The chief of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday acknowledged that the agency fell short of expectations in its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and announced plans for extensive changes.

"For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for COVID-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations," said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky in a statement.

"My goal is a new, public health, action-oriented culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication and timeliness," she said.

Walensky appointed Mary Wakefield, former deputy health secretary in the Obama administration, to lead the efforts.

Walensky laid out several organizational changes the CDC will take over the coming months to correct missteps and failures that occurred during the last two and a half years of the pandemic, according to a report of CNBC, citing a fact sheet.