CDC fails to release MMWR or update some weekly data: Shots

With federal health agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under a temporary freeze on public communications, some data and publications have not been released according to their normal schedules.

The agency released some regular weekly updates on Friday, but not others. He updated a page on the agency’s website on overall respiratory virus activity across the country and another that details the extent of the spread of COVID-19, RSV and influenza.

But as of mid-afternoon Friday, the agency had yet to update others, including FluView, which tracks flu strains, doctor visits, hospitalizations and deaths from the disease, as well as those detailing weekly flu vaccinations or weekly COVID-19 vaccinations.

And on Thursday, the CDC did not release the agency’s weekly publication, the Weekly Morbidity and Mortality ReportThis is the first time in decades that the agency has not published the much-loved pillar of public health communications.

The current communications freeze from all Department of Health and Human Services agencies has sparked concern among public health experts. HHS includes the CDC as well as other major agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration.

“Prevent the CDC from releasing scientific data through the MMWR represents a radical departure from protocol that will undermine public trust in the Trump administration,” Jennifer Nuzzo, who directs the Pandemic Center at Brown University, wrote in an email to NPR.

“Americans rely on this publication to learn about the health of their communities and for advice on how to best protect themselves,” she added. “This obvious political tampering with this process will only cast doubt on the administration’s intentions to keep Americans safe.”

In response to a question from NPR, the CDC emailed a statement that all federal health agencies have sent since the pause was imposed and referred additional questions to HHS:

“HHS has imposed a pause on mass communications and public appearances that are not directly related to emergencies or are not essential to preserving health,” the statement said. “This is a short pause to allow the new team to establish a review and prioritization process. There are exceptions for announcements that HHS divisions consider mission critical, but they will be made on a case-by-case basis.”

The pause comes amid widespread concern among scientists across the country, triggered by the cancellation of scientific meetings, a pause in travel by federal scientists and requests regarding diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs.

“There is a lot of confusion and misinformation about what exactly researchers should be doing right now,” says David Gillum, associate vice president for compliance and research administration at the University of Nevada. in Reno.

Scientists aren’t sure whether the travel suspension applies only to federal scientists or to all federally funded scientists, for example, he says. They’re also unsure whether their grant proposals must always include DEI information or whether doing so would result in their grants being rejected, he says.

“There’s a lot of chaos in the community,” Gillum says. “It’s pretty serious. It’s unprecedented.”

Others say many of these activities are not unusual during presidential transitions.

Dr. Georges Benjamin, president of the American Public Health Association, told NPR that while the communications freeze is confusing, it gives the HHS team that issued it “the benefit of the doubt: They’re trying simply to get a hold of the world.” administration – it’s big government.