CDC Director Redfield tells Senate Appropriations committee that people should wear masks. Outgoing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield said that leaving his post while the coronavirus ravages the country is "hard," but he does "feel proud" of the work the agency did under his leadership, and defended the nation’s rocky start to vaccine distribution against recent criticism from the incoming Biden administration. "It’s hard to leave at a time when the pandemic still hasn’t reached its peak and the worst days haven’t come," Redfield told the New York Times. "It would have been more rewarding to leave when the pandemic is under control, but I do feel proud."