Globe Summit takeaways: Former CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky on the state of public health

In a discussion during the Globe Summit, Dr. Rochelle Walensky talked about her experience at the CDC during the pandemic, plus the current state and future of public health.

As part of this year’s Globe Summit, former head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Rochelle Walensky sat down with The Boston Globe‘s health and medical editor Anna Kuchment on Wednesday to discuss the country’s public health landscape.

Walensky served as the director of the CDC from 2021 to 2023, during which she oversaw much of the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Is the U.S. prepared for another pandemic?

To kick off the conversation, Kuchment asked Walensky how prepared the country is for the next pandemic. Walensky’s response? “Very.”

She said the CDC has employees in every state and more than 60 countries endeavoring to keep Americans safe and healthy.

“Our card says we are open 24/7. That’s when people are working,” she said.

However, she cited some current challenges facing the CDC, like ineffective data collection methods. She said the CDC needs to modernize its data to provide an effective and accurate response to a hypothetical pandemic.

What’s driving low vaccination rates across the U.S.?

Walensky discussed the low vaccination rates among Americans, both children and adults.

In children, Walensky cited a rise in parents exempting their children from pediatric vaccines. However, Walkensky said, many adults who aren’t getting their vaccines avoid them due to insurance costs. She cited the Vaccines for Children program from the CDC, which provides vaccines to children whose parents or guardians can’t afford them. There is no federal framework to help adults get vaccines if they can’t afford them.

Walensky said the biggest issue preventing the country from improving vaccination rates is a lack of public trust.

“That’s the real issue,” she said.

Concerns over bird flu and flu season

The former CDC director highlighted some diseases to be wary of in the coming months. She called the recent bird flu outbreak “concerning” and talked about how the virus seems to be transitioning to cattle herds across America. The virus was first detected in a Texas cattle herd in March, and has since spread to 14 states.

“I don’t sleep great knowing bird flu is out there,” she told Kuchment.

With flu season coming up, Walensky said she was worried about the combined spread of influenza and bird flu. She detailed how influenza can easily “mutate and mix” with bird flu to form a new strain.

Many bird flu symptoms overlap with that of influenza, including fever, runny nose, muscle aches, cough, and fatigue.

Massachusetts recently tested all 95 dairy cattle herds in the state and reported they were are 100 percent free of bird flu, the first state in the country to do so and receive a negative result.

“I’m really proud Massachusetts was able to do that,” Walensky said. She said she hopes the Commonwealth “sets the standard” for other states to follow suit.

Communities of color and COVID

One of the last parts of the discussion revolved around the COVID response in communities of color.

A data analysis report from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health found that areas with the highest rates of COVID are areas where the majority of residents are people of color.

Walensky said that COVID exacerbated preexisting public health disparities in communities of color. The disease and the pandemic’s effects quickly affected “the most vulnerable populations,” she said. Walensky explained public health organizations need to account for these disparities when forming their responses to crises like the pandemic.

She spoke about how the CDC used its Social Vulnerability Index to plan out where they would enact mass vaccination sites during the pandemic. However, Walensky said there is often a deep mistrust of public health officials in communities of color due to previous mistreatment. She emphasized the need to improve public health outreach in those communities, starting with building up a bond of trust and respect.

“This is going to be hard, this is going to be long, this is going to be a commitment,” Walensky said.