New China CDC chief has a key mission: pushing on with the zero-Covid policy
- Shen Hongbing, 58, has also been tasked with strengthening the nation’s capacity to deal with public health emergencies
- He has spent most of his career at Nanjing Medical University and has a background in oncology research and epidemiology
It will be no easy task for Shen Hongbing, the prominent public health expert taking over from George Gao Fu, who is retiring. At 58, Shen is just two years younger than Gao.
The announcement was made on Tuesday, when Wang Hesheng, deputy director of the National Health Commission and director of the National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention, set out Shen’s tasks as head of the China CDC.
“For the time being, the primary mission is to contain Covid and to persist in the dynamic zero-Covid policy … and effectively control the pandemic while maintaining social and economic development,” Wang said.
He said Shen had also been tasked with strengthening the nation’s capacity to deal with public health emergencies, and to improve scientific research on disease control.
Shen will also have to do more to attract talent to the public health agency and train more younger leaders within the China CDC system. It is an issue the China CDC has long grappled with, particularly in its regional branches, as many skilled professionals in the CDC system are also lost because their pay is not as good as that in the civil service.