¶ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is an agency of the United States Federal Government. It operates within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It has previously been called the Communicable Disease Center, the National Communicable Disease Center, the Center for Disease Control, and the Centers for Disease Control.[1]
¶ History
The Communicable Disease Center was founded on July 1, 1946 as the successor to the Office of Malaria Control in War Areas (MCWA).[2] Originally created during World War II under the United States Public Health Service, MCWA was tasked with killing disease-carrying mosquitos by spraying insecticides in and around military facilities.[1:1] Starting with a chemical called Paris Green, MCWA also used diesel gas before switching to DDT in 1944.
MCWA quickly expanded its activities to the wider, nascent public health system, including spraying neighbourhoods with DDT and focusing on additional diseases such as yellow fever and dengue.
At the end of World War II, MCWA was replaced a new agency called the Communicable Disease Center (CDC), which continued its program to apply DDT to the interiors of homes for several more years.[3]
Since 1947, the scope of CDC’s mandate has continued to expand, along with several name changes. CDC added veterinary and epidemiology divisions, and responded to the Cold War by creating the Epidemic Intelligence Service in 1951. The focus of the agency shifted towards laboratory science, before expanding beyond the realm of infectious diseases to include nutrition, chronic disease and occupational health. In 1967, the agency changed its name to the National Communicable Disease Center, before opting for the Center for Disease Control in 1970. The plural version of the name was introduced in 1980.
On March 29, 1983, the United States Congress amended the Public Health Service Act to allow the CDC to accept "unconditional and conditional gifts…for the benefit of the Public Health Service or for the carrying out of any of its functions."[4][5]
The Centers for Disease Control was renamed a final time on October 27, 1992 to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.[6]
In October 2015, the CDC awarded a five-year grant to the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) to advance the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) in Uganda. This resulted in the establishment of the Biosafety and Biosecurity Association Uganda (BBAU).[7]
¶ COVID-19
On February 4, 2020, the CDC published a document titled "CDC 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel - Instructions for Use," in which they claim that "no quantified virus isolates of the 2019-nCoV are currently available." As such, the first polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays were designed based on the full-length transcribed nucleocapsid protein of the virus as it appeared on GenBank.[8]
Subsequent revisions of the document maintained this language until Revision 5, published July 13, 2020.[9] Revision 6, published December 1, 2020, finally updated the statement to read that no isolates were "available for CDC use at the time the test was developed and [the] study conducted."[10]
On May 5, 2023, the CDC announcement it would be retiring the V-safe vaccine adverse event reporting system as of May 19.[11][12]
On January 5, 2024, the CDC was ordered to release the "free-text" entries of adverse event reports to its V-safe monitoring system following a lawsuit by the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN).[13]
On March 1, 2024, the CDC published updated guidelines recommending Americans treat COVID-19 just like they would treat the flu.[14]
¶ Organization
The CDC is comprised of numerous research centers and institutes:[15]
- Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)[16]
- Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics (CFA)
- Global Health Center (GHC)
- National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD)
- National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP)
- National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID)
- National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH)
- National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)
- National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP)
- National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD)
- National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC)
- National Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Public Health Infrastructure and Workforce (NCSTLTPHIW)
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
¶ Committees
¶ Funding
The CDC is allocated public funding on an annual basis by the United States Congress. These funds are then distributed within the CDC, as well as to public health agencies at the state and municipal levels across the United States, in a manner determined by the CDC’s Office of Financial Resources (OFR).[17] In 2015, the CDC’s year-end budget was $6.9 billion USD.[7:1] By 2018, this had increased to $7.625 billion.[18] Notably, the CDC budget in 2019, just prior to the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, fell to $7.283 billion.[19] This decrease was short-lived, however, with a year-end budget in 2020 of $7.77 billion. This figure has increased yearly ever since, landing at $9.184 billion at the end of 2023.[20]
¶ External gifts
The CDC also accepts "external gifts" from private entities, and engages in public-private partnerships.[4:1] Such gifts can be either “conditional” or “unconditional” – in other words, strings may be attached, with the expectation that a donor would hold some degree of sway over a particular CDC program or area of research.
Between 2015-2018, the CDC received direct gifts from:[21][22][23][24]
- Abbott Laboratories
- American Chemistry Council (ACC)
- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Carter Center
- Center for Product Safety
- Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta (CFGA)
- Contact Lens Institute (CLI)
- Emory University
- Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
- Geneva Foundation
- Gilead Sciences
- Global Health Partnership Initiative
- International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA)
- International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM)
- Job-Site Safety Institute (JSI)
- Jordan Smelski Foundation for Amoeba Awareness
- Jupitor Corporation (JPC)
- Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)
- Kyle Lewis Amoeba Awareness Foundation
- MassBiologics
- Northborough-Southborough Regional School District
- Pediatric Epilepsy Research Foundation (PERF)
- Peoples Bank and Trust
- Prosetta Biosciences
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Stanford University
- United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association
- University of Massachusetts
- University of Notre Dame
- Washington University in St. Louis
- Wits Health Consortium (WHC)
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- ZeShan Foundation
¶ Activities
The CDC has provided notable funding to:
¶ Publications
CDC 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel - Instructions for Use
- February 4, 2020: Revision 1
- March 15, 2020: Revision 2
- March 30, 2020: Revision 3
- June 12, 2020: Revision 4
- July 13, 2020: Revision 5
- December 1, 2020: Revision 6
- July 21, 2021: Revision 7
- March 7, 2023: Revision 8
Safety of COVID-19 Vaccines
¶ External links
Parascandola, J. (1996). From MCWA to CDC--origins of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Public Health Reports, 111(6), 549–551. PubMed. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1381908/pdf/pubhealthrep00045-0079.pdf ↩︎ ↩︎
United States Office of Malaria Control in War Areas. (1992). Office of Malaria Control in War Areas 1942-1944 : origins and activities. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://web.archive.org/web/20230329051642/https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/109499 ↩︎
CDC Global Health Center, Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria. (2018, July 23). Elimination of Malaria in the United States (1947-1951). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://web.archive.org/web/20230930231258/https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/elimination_us.html ↩︎
Gifts to CDC. (2016, December 8). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://web.archive.org/web/20170123011302/https://www.cdc.gov/partners/gift-funding.html ↩︎ ↩︎
Knowledge Ecology International, Liberty Coalition, Project on Government Oversight, Public Citizen, & U.S. Right to Know. (2019, November 5). CITIZEN PETITION TO CDC: Cease use of false disclaimers that CDC does not accept commercial support, because CDC does accept commercial support and CDC does have financial relationships with product manufacturers. U.S. Right to Know. https://web.archive.org/web/20231016112224/https://usrtk.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Petition-to-CDC-re-Disclaimers.pdf ↩︎
Announcement of CDC Name Change. (1992). Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 41(43), 829–830. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://archive.today/2023.10.17-194237/https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00017962.htm ↩︎
Overview of the Budget Request - FY2017. (2017). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://web.archive.org/web/20221021224834/https://www.cdc.gov/budget/documents/fy2017/fy-2017-cdc-budget-overview.pdf ↩︎ ↩︎
Division of Viral Diseases. (2020, February 4). CDC 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel - For Emergency Use Only - Instructions for Use. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://web.archive.org/web/20200205171727/https://www.fda.gov/media/134922/download ↩︎
Division of Viral Diseases. (2020, July 13). CDC 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel - For Emergency Use Only - Instructions for Use. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://web.archive.org/web/20200831132620/https://www.fda.gov/media/134922/download ↩︎
Division of Viral Diseases. (2020, December 1). CDC 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel - For Emergency Use Only - Instructions for Use. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://web.archive.org/web/20210401090824/https://www.fda.gov/media/134922/download ↩︎
Kekatos, M. (2023, May 9). CDC won’t track COVID transmission levels anymore in major shift. ABC News. https://web.archive.org/web/20230829201210/https://abcnews.go.com/Health/cdc-changing-covid-19-surveillance-public-health-emergency/story?id=99088244 ↩︎
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP). (2023, June 28). Enroll in v-safe after vaccination health checker. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://archive.today/2023.08.29-123151/https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/ensuringsafety/monitoring/v-safe/index.html ↩︎
Kacsmaryk, M. J. (2024, January 5). Freedom Coalition of Doctors for Choice v. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention et al - Memorandum Order and Opinion. Informed Consent Action Network; United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Amarillo Division. https://web.archive.org/web/20240112080644/https://icandecide.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/040-Memorandum-Order-and-Opinion-2024-01-08.pdf ↩︎
Reddy, S. (2024, March 1). It’s Official: We Can Pretty Much Treat Covid Like the Flu Now. Here’s a Guide. Wall Street Journal. http://archive.today/2024.03.01-230510/https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/covid-guidelines-2024-cdc-symptoms-contagious-cdefb6b8 ↩︎
CDC Organization. (2023, February 21). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://web.archive.org/web/20231224045235/https://www.cdc.gov/about/organization/cio.htm ↩︎
While the ATSDR is its own independent agency under the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC is responsible for administering the majority of its activities. ↩︎
Office of Financial Resources (OFR). (2024, January 30). Funding. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://archive.today/2024.02.28-001231/https://www.cdc.gov/funding/index.html ↩︎
CDC—Budget Request Overview: FY 2020 President’s Budget Request | $6.594 Billion. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved April 13, 2020, from https://web.archive.org/web/20200413175031/https://www.cdc.gov/budget/documents/fy2020/cdc-overview-factsheet.pdf ↩︎
CDC—Budget Request Overview: FY 2020 President’s Budget Request | $6.594 Billion. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved April 13, 2020, from https://web.archive.org/web/20200413175031/https://www.cdc.gov/budget/documents/fy2020/cdc-overview-factsheet.pdf ↩︎
CDC Budget Overview - Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 President’s Budget Request: $11.581 billion. (2023, March 9). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://web.archive.org/web/20231205032237/https://www.cdc.gov/budget/documents/fy2024/cdc-overview-factsheet.pdf ↩︎
General Conditional and Unconditional Gifts - Fiscal Year 2015. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved February 16, 2017, from https://web.archive.org/web/20170216124459/https://www.cdc.gov/about/pdf/business/2015-gifts-to-cdc-final.pdf ↩︎
General Conditional and Unconditional Gifts - Fiscal Year 2016. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved October 26, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20231026093919/http://www.cdc.gov/partners/pdf/2016-gifts-to-cdc-final.pdf ↩︎
General Conditional and Unconditional Gifts - Fiscal Year 2017. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved October 28, 2020, from https://web.archive.org/web/20201028204023/https://www.cdc.gov/partners/pdf/2017-gifts-to-CDC-final.pdf ↩︎
General Conditional and Unconditional Gifts - Fiscal Year 2018. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved October 26, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20231026082109/http://www.cdc.gov/partners/pdf/2018-Gifts-to-CDC-final.pdf ↩︎
Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation - Rockville, USA. Bionity. Retrieved May 12, 2023, from http://archive.today/2023.05.12-171636/https://www.bionity.com/en/associations/20656/aeras-global-tb-vaccine-foundation.html ↩︎
Annual Report July 2015-June 2016 (p. 10). Infectious Diseases Institute. Retrieved June 16, 2017, from https://web.archive.org/web/20170616104521/https://www.idi-makerere.com/index.php?option=com_docman&view=docman&Itemid=565 ↩︎