CDC chief touts improvements in meeting public health challenges

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a faster, more adaptable agency now than it was two years ago when it confronted the anthrax attacks, the agency's director said Friday.

The threat of terrorism, coupled with a series of public health crises over the last two years, including the October 2001 anthrax attacks and the global outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in February, have forced the agency to transform the way it communicates with the public and its stakeholders, said CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding in remarks at the National Press Club in Washington.

Gerberding, who released the CDC's first annual report, which detailed the agency's achievements in fiscal 2003 and its future challenges, said part of the CDC's transformation will continue to involve an overhaul of "our business services and management structure to ensure the best stewardship of our resources."

Gerberding, who was praised by officials for her calmness and communications skills during the 2001 anthrax attacks, said the CDC responded to the SARS outbreak the way the disease itself spread-quickly and globally. The agency's new emergency operations center, which opened just before the outbreak in February, linked the CDC with the Health and Human Services Department, the World Health Organization and field operations around the world. Hundreds of CDC employees were deployed to investigate and contain the disease, and the quick response paid off, Gerberding said. Less than two weeks after the virus was isolated, CDC scientists found the cause of SARS and sequenced its genome.

Over the last year, the CDC has also invested significant resources to protect the public against the threat of bioterrorism. In fiscal 2003, the agency allocated more than $1 billion to upgrade state and local public health agencies' readiness to respond to bioterrorism and other emergencies. Bioterrorism preparedness at the federal, state and local levels have helped the public health system confront other non-terrorism-related emergencies, Gerberding said.

For example, upgrades in health alert and risk communication systems in California improved the public health response to recent wildfires, while Chicago successfully implemented its emergency mass vaccination clinic plan to avert a large-scale meningitis outbreak, Gerberding said. The agency recently announced a plan to grade how well states are prepared for bioterrorism and other public health emergencies.

But the CDC has also weathered some criticism this year. The agency's initiative to vaccinate healthcare workers against smallpox has stalled and some lawmakers have questioned why the process is taking so long. Gerberding said vaccinating first responders is one part of a comprehensive effort to ensure the country has enough vaccine, that the public health system is equipped to test it, and that hospitals are prepared to handle mass vaccinations and potential health consequences from them.