CDC Director: ‘These Are the Moments We Train For’

At the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) annual meeting last month, Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, director of the CDC and administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), gave a presentation on some of the many challenges allergists, immunologists, and other medical specialists have to face post-pandemic, including an increase in seasonal allergy, eczema, and food allergy.

In this MedPage Today video, Walensky discusses these challenges, and expresses her gratitude for all health professionals who confront them.

Following is a transcript of her remarks:

While much of the national conversation has focused on COVID-19 and other infectious diseases like mpox, this is not the only challenge we are facing. According to data from CDC just released in 2021 National Health Interview Survey, nearly one third, 31.8% of adults 18 and over in this country have a seasonal allergy, eczema, or food allergy. It is unsurprising then that more than one out of four children, 27.2%, have a seasonal allergy, eczema, or food allergy.

As our changing climate has caused shifts in rainfall patterns, seasonal air temperatures, and carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, these can affect the onset and duration of pollen season for people with seasonal allergies. In 2022, CDC ATSDR developed a national climate and health strategic framework to help communities track, prevent, and respond to public health threats of climate change, including climate change-related health impacts on people with allergic immunologic conditions.

I know many of you care for patients with asthma, which affects more than 25 million Americans, according to our most recent data. Asthma takes almost 4,000 lives and causes 1.8 million emergency department visits every single year. The disease costs the nation $50 billion annually, and you all know better than I that asthma morbidity and mortality disproportionately affects certain populations, including non-Hispanic Black Americans.

Black and African-American children are twice as likely to be hospitalized and more than four times as likely to die from asthma than white children. CDC is committed to bringing together partners from various sectors to leverage the multidisciplinary expertise and perspective to inform next steps, and create a shared commitment to reduce health inequities including asthma disparities.

And let me express my appreciation for AAAAI’s clear statement of its core value to respect, value, and promote diversity and inclusiveness among the individuals and groups with whom you interact, collaborate, and partner. And to using research, education, and advocacy to encourage inclusivity and equity for all.

I open with gratitude and I will close on the same note. It has been hard. There is no doubt we in the clinical community and in public health have taken a beating and we are worn down. But let us grant ourselves a little grace to reinvigorate, to not only take care of our patients, but to proactively and intentionally take care of ourselves and our loved ones. This is critically important.

And let us together take this opportunity to be introspective and remember, these are the moments we train for. I am personally grateful, CDC is grateful to the members of AAAAI and to all our nation’s health professionals for your dedication to improving health. Thank you for your work and thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.