CDC Director Walensky Tests Positive for COVID-19

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks in Washington on June 16, 2022. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has tested positive for COVID-19, the agency announced on Oct. 22.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky tested positive on Oct. 21, according to the CDC. She was said to be experiencing “mild symptoms.” She is isolating at her home and will work remotely, the CDC said.

Walensky didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Senior staffers and close contacts have been informed of the positive test and “are taking appropriate action to monitor their health,” the agency added.

Walensky, 53, is described as “up to date” on her vaccines, which refers to the agency’s recommendation that Americans get one or more boosters after a primary series, depending on when a person receives their initial shots.

Walensky received the new bivalent booster from Moderna in Massachusetts in September, telling ABC News at the time, “I think it’s critically important to do.”

“All the data from this new bivalent vaccine have demonstrated that it will protect you against—more likely protect you—against the strains that we have circulating right now, those Omicron BA.5 strains, as well as keep you well protected, because we’ve seen that some of that protection can wane over time. So we are really encouraging everybody to roll up their sleeves and get this updated bivalent vaccine,” she said.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization to the bivalent booster from Moderna and another like it from Pfizer, despite no human clinical data available for either shot.

The only evidence of the bivalent booster efficacy is from the testing of mice, which indicated that neutralizing antibody levels were higher after vaccination.

Experts believe, but don’t know for sure, that antibodies help protect against COVID-19.

The CDC recommended the updated boosters for Americans aged 12 and older in September, and expanded the availability to children as young as 5 years old in October.

While some experts agree with the push for the new shots, others note the uncertainty surrounding a benefit and the growing awareness of side effects, including heart inflammation.

“If there’s not clear evidence of benefit, then it’s not fair to ask people to take a risk, no matter how small,” Dr. Paul Offit, an adviser to the FDA, said in September.

Dr. Vinay Prasad, a professor of epidemiology at the University of California–San Francisco, and a critic of the vaccination push, said that Walensky’s positive test supports his position.

“She received the bivalent booster exactly one month ago at a CVS pharmacy. Right now, she’s probably in the window where the booster exerts the greatest protective effect it could possibly exert, yet still: look what happened,” Prasad wrote in an Oct. 22 blog post.

“Before we launch massive vaccination campaigns, we need good evidence that they actually benefit the people we are tasked with protecting and caring for.

“Rochelle Walensky’s infection is just a reminder to the American people she doesn’t know what she’s talking about, because she has not asked for good evidence.”