Some of the responsibilities that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's pandemic response team took over at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic are being ceded back to other departments, the New York Times reports.
It adds that this change does not mean that the Incident Management Structure is being dismantled, as the CDC says the team will continue to address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The change, does, though, come as the agency is reviewing its processes. The Times adds that the CDC "has long been admired for its scientific approach to improving public health," but that it has in recent years been neglected and become stagnant. The agency further came under criticism for its initial handling of the COVID-19 pandemic when it botched the design of a coronavirus test and confusing recommendations on quarantining and, later, vaccine boosters. This led Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director, to announce in April that the agency would be conducting a review with the goal of modernization.
According to the Times, the CDC says it has completed the data collection phase of that review, which has encompassed hundreds of interviews and conversations and is moving onto synthesizing that data to identify themes.