In an ominous callback to Donald Trump’s actions during the COVID pandemic, the Trump Administration ordered all U.S. health agencies to pause external communications. From Brenda Goodman and Meg Tirrell at CNN:
The initial orders were delivered Tuesday to staff at agencies inside the US Department of Health and Human Services, including to officials at the US Food and Drug Administration, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health… The direction came without warning and with little guidance as to what exactly it covered, according to sources inside the affected agencies who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to share the information.
CNN quoted Dr. Richard Besser, former acting director of CDC and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, who noted this directive comes at a very sensitive time.
“Not a day goes by when CDC isn’t tracking a potential threat to our health,” he said. “Right now they are letting us know about bird flu in cows, birds, and people. Every time there is an outbreak involving a food, they let us know how to avoid getting sick… Cutting off communications from CDC puts our health at risk and prevents our doctors, nurses, and public health leaders in our communities from doing their jobs. I urge the administration to quickly lift the pause.”
CNN went on to note that, during Trump’s first administration’s “response” to COVID, political appointees ordered CDC to “change language of weekly science reports” so as to not “undermine the president’s political messaging.”
