NEW YORK (AP) — The outgoing head of the nation’s largest public health agency has called on the next administration to maintain its focus and funding to protect Americans from emerging health threats.
“We must continue our global work at CDC to ensure we stop outbreaks at their source,” said Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday. “We must maintain that financing. We must keep the expertise up to date. We must uphold diplomacy.”
Cohen, 46, will leave office in January after about 18 months in office. President-elect Donald Trump said Friday evening that he has selected Dave Weldon, a former Florida congressman, as the agency’s next chief.
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Cohen said she has not met Weldon and does not know him. She previously raised concerns about Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaccine advocate and CDC critic nominated to oversee all federal public health agencies.
The CDC, with a core budget of $9.2 billion, is charged with protecting Americans from disease outbreaks and other public health threats. The staff consists of many scientists: 60% have a master’s degree or a doctorate.
The past eight years have been perhaps the most difficult in the agency’s history. The CDC once enjoyed an excellent international reputation for its expertise in infectious diseases and other causes of illness and death. But confidence in the agency fell due to missteps during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, political attacks and resistance to infection prevention measures such as mask-wearing and vaccinations.
The CDC has four political appointments, out of approximately 13,000 employees. The rest serve regardless of who is in the White House, with civil service protection against attempts to fire them for political reasons.
Trump said during the campaign that he wants to convert many positions at federal agencies into political appointments, meaning those employees can be hired and fired by whoever wins the election.
There is also a proposal to split the agency into two: one to track disease data, and another focused on public health but with limited ability to make policy recommendations.
And then there’s a current budget proposal in Congress that would cut the agency’s funding by 22%. It would also eliminate the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, which works on issues such as drownings, drug overdoses, suicides and shootings.
Cohen said there is reason to be proud of the agency’s work in recent years. The CDC has built partnerships to improve the availability of testing for various infections and to watch for signs of disease outbreaks by monitoring wastewater. There are, as always, new threats, but not new full-fledged public health emergencies, she said.
The day after the Nov. 5 election, Cohen emailed CDC officials urging them to continue.
“While the world may feel differently with the changes ahead, our mission has not changed,” she wrote.
She said she is not aware of a wave of concerned CDC scientists coming to the doors because of the election results.
“There is a difference between campaigning and governing,” she said. “I want to address this in a way that we pass the baton.”
Cohen said she doesn’t know what she’ll do next, other than spend time with her family in Raleigh, North Carolina, where her family maintained their residence while she ran the agency.
Next year, the CDC director will be subject to Senate confirmation for the first time, which could leave a gap before Trump’s pick takes over. CDC Deputy Director Dr. Debra Houry has been assigned to help manage the transition.
In addition to the governance transition, the CDC faces several looming threats.
Officials this month confirmed the first U.S. case of a new form of MPox first seen in eastern Congo.
There is also the continuing stream of bird flu cases, most of which are mild illnesses occurring in farm workers who were in direct contact with infected cows or chickens. CDC officials say they believe the risk to the public remains low and there is no evidence it is spreading among people.
“I don’t think we are at a turning point yet. But does that mean it can’t change tomorrow? That could be possible,” she said.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
