The Trump administration has issued numerous instructions that have halted almost all scientific communication by federal health agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, until further notice.
In a message on Tuesday, Dr. Dorothy Fink, President Donald Trump’s acting secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services, directed leaders of all federal health departments to temporarily halt public messaging while a review is conducted.
The memo, which was acquired by NBC News, instructs the heads of the Food and Drug Administration, the NIH, and the CDC to hold off on releasing any documents or communications—including press releases and regulations—to the public until they have been examined and authorized by a presidential appointee.
The memo allowed for communications that might be deemed a critical health and safety issue to be released.
HHS has imposed a freeze on mass communications and public appearances that are not directly tied to crises or necessary to maintaining health, the NIH answered in a statement late Wednesday. This brief hiatus will give the new team time to establish a review and prioritization procedure.
The delay went into effect right now and will continue until February 1.
During a call Tuesday, communications teams from federal health agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC, were informed of the pause.
According to a CDC official, there is a lot of ambiguity at the moment as this transfer takes place, but it is not completely unusual throughout transitions.
The same thing happened during Trump’s first term, according to an HHS official.
As new administrations catch up, brief message pauses are usual. A brief delay isn’t reason for alarm, but if it persists for a week or longer, the HHS official pointed out that it might be a problem.
The HHS representative stated that we are waiting for the new staff to arrive and provide guidance, but we haven’t received much training.
Due to their lack of public speaking authorization, the two officials talked under the condition of anonymity.
According to one insider, the delay may involve a number of avian flu reports that the CDC was supposed to disclose on Thursday. This possible reporting lapse coincides with a growing H5N1 outbreak of avian flu.
Additionally, a CDC senior press officer declined to comment on whether the agency’s seasonal flu report, which is scheduled for release on Friday, will be provided.
The press officer instead sent inquiries to HHS, which has not replied to inquiries.
Both the FDA and the CDC did not respond to similar queries.
In accordance with HHS directives, NIH staff were notified via email on Wednesday that all federal travel is halted until further notice.
According to the email released with NBC News, employees who are currently on official government travel are permitted to finish their trip as long as they are not giving presentations, but they must return to their original point of departure. Requests in the future are not permitted for any reason.
Additionally, on Wednesday, a few scientists expressed their annoyance on social media that the NIH had ceased funding research grants through its study sections, or review committees.Whether the action is a part of the HHS communications halt is unknown.
Without funding, researchers cannot begin any new studies on anything from COVID and Ebola to childhood cancer and asthma. At least 300,000 researchers are supported by the more than 60,000 grants that the NIH grants annually.
Questions concerning funding for research grants were not immediately answered by the NIH.
The halt in public communications was originally reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday.