WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky, a top U.S. public health official, is leaving the institution at the end of June, the CDC said on Friday.
Walensky led the institution for two years at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its height. Her agency was pivotal in ushering in the adoption of vaccine recommendations that pushed back the virus’ deadly spread.
“The end of the COVID-19 public health emergency marks a tremendous transition for our country, for public health, and in my tenure as CDC Director,” Walensky wrote to President Joe Biden in her resignation letter.
The government will on May 11 end the COVID-19 public health emergency that allowed millions of Americans to receive vaccines, tests, and treatments at no cost during the pandemic.
“In the process, we saved and improved lives and protected the country and the world from the greatest infectious disease threat we have seen in over 100 years,” she wrote.
“We have all benefited from her service and dedication to public health, and I wish her the best in her next chapter,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington and Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Additional reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
