“It’s been disappointing: A lot more was expected in terms of centralizing messaging and policies, and turning things over to government agencies and the leaders of those agencies,” said Glen Nowak, a University of Georgia professor who spent 14 years at the CDC, including six as its head of media relations.

Even the CDC’s staunchest supporters acknowledge that the agency has experienced numerous setbacks since Biden took office. The debate over who to blame, though, is still raging. Some have pinned recent stumbles on the agency and its politically inexperienced director Walensky, while others say that the White House’s own actions have made the CDC’s full revival impossible.

The continued tension radiating between Pennsylvania Avenue and the CDC’s Atlanta headquarters highlights the storied public health agency’s precarious standing in Washington. And it calls into question whether Walensky’s political inexperience has prevented her from following through on the sweeping promises she made before taking office — or whether the White House has actively prevented her from doing so…

Walensky has also failed to follow through on a number of the pledges she made when she took office: In particular, she has not resumed the regular briefings with lower-ranking scientists that she promised before taking office. The Trump administration largely canceled those briefings in early 2020 after Nancy Messonnier, the deputy CDC director, warned that Covid-19 would soon upend everyday life.