Editorial: Big ask for new CDC director

The new director of the nation’s top public health institute is looking at a tough row to hoe.

As a once-in-a-century pandemic continues to pummel the United States and the world, Rochelle Walensky has many tasks before her — not the least of which is rebuilding the credibility of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The 51-year-old doctor, an infectious diseases specialist at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, was sworn in on Inauguration Day. President Joe Biden had the foresight to have her waiting in the wings for her new role.

She takes her place at the helm as the COVID-19 crisis persists and a vaccination program founders.

At some point soon, Walensky will have to assure the public the CDC is free from political influence. The best way to do this is to demonstrate it by doubling down on its mission of using sound science and good medicine as its guiding principles in combating the virus.

The reputation of the CDC has been damaged by the conflict between such principles and a previous administration that spent critical time downplaying the pandemic.

Walensky, an HIV researcher, has been a prominent voice on the pandemic, sometimes criticizing certain aspects of state and national responses. Her targets have included the uneven transmission-prevention measures that were in place last summer and a prominent Trump adviser’s endorsement of a “herd immunity” approach to the crisis.

Having been outspoken gives her and her agency a heightened degree of credibility.

She won’t be able to fix things without help. But that help appears to be coming. Biden said he would ask for $160 billion for vaccinations and other public health programs, including an effort to expand the public health workforce by 100,000 jobs. This move must be embraced by those who hold the purse strings: members of Congress.