The official urged for reorganizing her agency to make it more agile in emergencies, especially when the country and the world are facing up other epidemiological threats, such as monkeypox.

Dr. Walensky said that the decision to change the agency was made internally and not at the request of the White House.

I feel like it´s my responsibility to lead this agency to a better place after a really challenging three years, she told The Associated Press.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the CDC has a $12 billion budget and over 11,000 employees to shield Americans from disease and other health threats.

CDC´s public dissatisfaction has surged during the Covid-19 pandemic as experts were too slow to recommend measures including to wear face coverings.

Dr. Walensky took over the agency midway through the coronavirus pandemic in January 2021, but stated CDC really needed to move faster and communicate better in the future, noting its stumbles responding to Covid-19.

The United States is the country reporting highest toll of Covid-19 deaths, over a million people, according to data from the CDC and The New York Times.

pll/jcm/avr