The Trump administration, moving quickly to clamp down on health and science agencies, has canceled a series of scientific meetings and instructed federal health officials to refrain from all public communications, including upcoming reports focused on the nation’s escalating bird flu crisis.
Experts who serve on external advisory committees on a range of topics, from antibiotic resistance to deafness, received emails on Wednesday telling them their meetings were cancelled.
The cancellations followed a directive issued Tuesday by the acting director of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, which banned the public release of Any public communications are even reviewed by a designated person or a presidential vice president, according to federal officials and an internal memo reviewed by The New York Times.
The directive orders public dissemination of “regulations, guidance documents and other public documents and communications,” including any “notice,” “grant announcement,” newsletters, speaking engagements, or official correspondence with public officials, until they receive approval.
The new restriction applies to messages to email groups and social media posts, and includes a ban on advertising in the Federal Register, without which many official operations cannot continue. Some notices sent by the Biden administration in its final week were quickly withdrawn.
The cancellations and suppression of communications have confused Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff and the broader scientific community. The directive was first reported by The Washington Post.
Representatives for the Centers for Disease Control and Food and Drug Administration declined to comment. The suspension is scheduled to continue until February 1.
The repercussions were immediate.
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control were prepared to release a poignant weekly report on morbidity and mortality rates on Thursday that included several items related to growing bird flu outbreaks on dairy and poultry farms.
Weekly reports have been called “Holy of Holies” A critical means of communication about developments in public health. This week’s publication has now been suspended as a result of the order, according to federal health officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Upcoming meetings of external advisory committees on health issues have been cancelled, according to committee members, who spoke anonymously for fear of retaliation. For example, review meetings for grant proposals submitted to the National Institutes of Health have been cancelled.
Members of the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria were told that their meeting scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday has been canceled “while the new administration considers its plan to manage federal policy and public communications.”
Those who pre-registered for the celebratory dinner were told they would “receive a full refund 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 was nominated by President Trump to lead the department, is not expected to last for at least another week.
The administration has not yet appointed an acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or an acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and those are typically among the first moves made by an incoming administration.
The communications shutdown accompanies a series of other changes facing federal employees since Mr. Trump’s inauguration on Monday, including Hiring freezethat An end to remote work and Close Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Offices and programs.
Late Wednesday, Dr. Fink issued another directive aimed at ending diversity and inclusion efforts at the Department of Health and Human Services and warned against trying to “hide these programs with coded or inaccurate language.” Her letter also encouraged employees to report colleagues who did not comply.
Former federal officials said it was not unusual for a new administration to limit communications during the initial transition period, but the scope and duration of the latest pause was unexpected.
Staff of the incoming Trump administration did not take advantage of the transition period to meet with federal health officials and become familiar with agencies.
Although a communications pause is not out of the ordinary, previous administrations have not restricted scientific publications such as the MMWR report or health guidelines because of their critical importance to the public interest.
“It is not unusual for a new administration to want to centralize communications.” said Dr. Richard Besser, CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the CDC
“It is unusual to pause all communications from an agency where one of its critical responsibilities is to keep the public informed,” he added.
Privately, several federal officials said they were confused about whether the restrictions on communications with the Federal Register included health data. It appears that some officials were not aware of the restrictions at all.
Much of the concern focuses on the CDC, whose responsibilities certainly include public communications. The agency, for example, recently educated doctors and patients about the potential health risks related to the emerging version of the smallpox virus and the Marburg disease outbreak in Rwanda.
The agency presented findings on the mental health impacts of the pandemic on health care providers and new guidelines expanding the recommendation for pneumococcal vaccines, and warned of an increase in cases of tularemia, a rare infectious disease, in the United States.
said Chrissy Giuliano, executive director of the Greater City Health Alliance, which represents leaders of urban public health departments.
While much of this information could be delayed by a few days, she said she hopes the administration has a plan to release the most urgent public health information, especially… in relationship with Bird flu outbreak.
Last year, the bird flu virus, called H5N1, infected dozens of animal species and more than 35 million wild and commercial birds, sending egg prices soaring. It also infected at least 67 people. The country recorded its first human death linked to bird flu in December.
“Could something like bird flu turn a dime in 10 days?” Ms. Giuliano said. “Yes. I hope that if these signals are seen at the federal level, the information will be released.”
Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health and a former COVID czar in the Biden administration, said the communications breakdown was likely a product of the Trump administration’s “particularly faltering” transition to the White House, rather than the result of a coordinated effort to withhold information.
However, public health experts are concerned about any changes in access to federal health data. Memories from Mr. Trump’s last term, during which political appointees were installed She repeatedly interfered with CDC reports and Processor guidance The documents are still raw.
“I think if it goes beyond February 1, we will have a much more serious problem,” Dr. Jha said.
