219 - What Went Wrong? The CDC and COVID-19

The CDC has been hailed as the world's leading public health agency, but throughout the COVID-19 pandemic—a time when the agency should have been leading the charge—its responses have fallen short of expectations. Dr. Ali Khan, dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska and a former top CDC official, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what went wrong despite decades of preparation. Dr. Khan also shares what needs to happen for the agency to regain credibility and meet the pressing challenges of COVID-19 and other public health crises. (This interview was recorded on November 6.) KEYWORDS: health communication; policy