The Trump administration, moving quickly to clamp down on health and science organizations, has canceled a series of scientific meetings and ordered federal health officials to refrain from all public communications, including upcoming reports focused on the escalating bird flu crisis .
Experts who serve on outside advisory groups on a range of topics, from antibiotic resistance to deafness, received emails Wednesday telling them their meetings had been canceled.
The cancellations followed a directive issued Tuesday by the deputy director of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, which prohibited public release any public communication until it is reviewed by a presidential appointee or designee, according to federal officials and an internal memo reviewed by The New York Times.
The directive stipulates the public publication of “regulations, guidance documents and other public documents and communications”, including any “notice”, “grant announcement”, news releases, speeches or official correspondence with public officials, until they receive approval.
The new restriction applies to messages in email groups and social media posts, and included a ban on announcements in the Federal Register, without which many official processes cannot proceed. Some notices sent out by the Biden administration in its final week were quickly withdrawn.
The cancellations and suppression of communications sent shockwaves through CDC officials and the broader scientific community. The directive was first reported by the Washington Post.
Spokesmen for the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration declined to comment. The moratorium will continue until February 1.
The fall was immediate.
CDC officials had been preparing to release an issue of the landmark Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on Thursday that included several figures related to the widening outbreak of bird flu on dairy and poultry farms.
The weekly reports have been called “the holiest of holies,” a critical means of communicating public health developments. This week’s publication is now on hold as a result of the order, according to two federal health officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Upcoming meetings of external health advisory committees have been canceled, according to committee members, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. For example, meetings to review grant proposals submitted to the National Institutes of Health were rejected.
Members of the President’s Advisory Council on Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria were told that their two-day meeting, scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday, has been canceled “as the new administration reviews its plan to manage federal policy and public communications.” ».
Those who had pre-registered for a gala dinner were told they would be fully refunded within 48 hours of receiving the email.
The directive was signed by Dr. Dorothy Fink, acting secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who President Trump has nominated to lead the department, is not expected for at least another week.
The administration has yet to name a deputy director for the CDC or a deputy commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration, typically among the first moves by an incoming administration.
The blackout accompanies a series of other changes facing federal employees since the inauguration of Mr. Trump on Monday, including a hiring freeze, an end to telecommuting and the closing of diversity, equity and inclusion offices and programs.
Late Wednesday, Dr. Fink issued another directive aimed at ending diversity and inclusion efforts at HHS and warned against trying to “hide these programs by using coded or imprecise language.” Her letter also encouraged employees to report non-compliant colleagues.
Former federal officials said it was not unusual for a new administration to restrict communication during the initial transition, but the scope and length of the latest pause were unexpected.
Staff members of the incoming Trump administration did not use the transition period to meet with federal health officials and familiarize themselves with the services.
And while a pause in communications is not unusual, previous administrations have not restricted scientific publications like the MMWR or health guidelines because of their critical importance to the public welfare.
“It’s not unusual for a new administration to want to centralize communication,” said Dr. Richard Besser, the CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the CDC
“It is unusual to cut off all communication from an agency where one of its critical responsibilities is to inform the public,” he added.
Privately, several federal officials said they were confused about whether the restriction on communicating with the Federal Register included health data. Some officials appeared to be completely unaware of the restrictions.
Much of the concern has focused on the CDC, whose responsibilities certainly include public communications. The agency, for example, recently informed doctors and patients about potential health risks related to an emerging version of mpox and an outbreak of Marburg disease in Rwanda.
The agency has offered findings about the pandemic’s mental health impact on health care providers and new guidelines that expand the pneumococcal vaccine recommendation and has warned of an increase in the incidence of tularemia, a rare infectious disease, in the United States.
State and city health officials rely on CDC alerts to make decisions for their communities, such as when to step up flu testing or what symptoms of illness to watch for, said Chrissie Juliano, executive director of the Big Cities Health Coalition , representing heads of urban public health departments.
While much of that information may be delayed by a few days, he said he hopes the administration had a plan for disseminating more pressing public health information, especially in in relation to the outbreak of bird flu.
In the past year, the bird flu virus, called H5N1, has affected dozens of animal species and more than 35 million wild and commercial birds, sending egg prices soaring. It has also infected at least 67 people. the country recorded its first bird flu death in December.
“Can something like bird flu cost a penny in 10 days?” Mrs. Giuliano said. “Yes. I hope that if these signals are seen at the federal level, the information will get out.”
Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health and the former Biden administration’s Covid czar, said the breakdown in communications was likely a product of the Trump administration’s “particularly uneven” transition to the White House, rather than a concerted effort to withhold information. .
But public health experts are wary of any changes to access to federal health data. The memories of the last term of Mr. Trump, during which political appointees repeatedly meddled with CDC reports and drafted guidance documents, are still raw.
“I think if it goes anywhere beyond February 1, then we have a much more serious problem,” Dr. Ja said.
