Embracing Controversy: A Second Look at CDC Reform Efforts in the Wake of COVID-19.

Abstract

Addressing criticism that the agency's Covid-19 response was lacking, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has proposed internal agency reforms intended to improve its performance during the next pandemic. They are aimed at improving surveillance and analytic capacity and agency communications. This essay, via a counterfactual analysis of the CDC's proposed reforms, asks how, if completed in advance of Covid-19, they might have changed outcomes in four cases of guidance controversy during the pandemic. CDC planned reforms, though they have merit, are predicated on the ability to come to "scientific closure" in a highly charged political environment. To improve outcomes in a future pandemic, the agency should consider how it plans to communicate with the public when recovering from error and when addressing controversy spurred by criticism from credible experts. However, the ability of future presidents to limit CDC performance and communications in the next pandemic and the lack of political consensus around the value of independent public health expertise threaten the agency's reform goals.