CDC issues fewer health alerts during second Trump term : NPR

South Carolina State Representative Rosalyn Henderson-Myers (D-Spartanburg) stands outside a mobile clinic offering free measles vaccinations in Spartanburg, South Carolina, on Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not issued a health alert related to the measles outbreak there.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been alerting the nation about health threats much less frequently since President Trump returned to office, sparking concerns among doctors and public health authorities.

The CDC has issued only six alerts from the agency Health Alert Network in 2025. The number of these HANs, as the alerts are called, varies from year to year. But the agency usually issues many more – sometimes dozens.

“We are absolutely flying blind,” says Dr. George Benjaminexecutive director of the American Public Health Association. “We are blind to a whole range of health risks that are entering our community or re-emerging in our community.”

Declining alert numbers leave doctors, hospitals and health departments less prepared and more vulnerable to being caught off guard, Benjamin and others say.

“HANs are a really important tool,” says Lauren Sauerassociate director of the Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska. “They tell clinicians: Here’s what you need to think about when you’re looking at patients or illnesses that you might not expect to see, walking around your emergency department. Clinicians need tools like this to say, “Pay attention to this specific thing right now. » “

Past alerts have sounded the alarm on a wide variety of threats, including Ebola, bird flu and the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s our early warning system,” Benjamin explains. “He’s the public health meteorologist. He gives us tremendous situational awareness.”

In addition to alerting doctors, nurses and other medical providers, the advisories also urge hospitals to stock up on appropriate medications and supplies and ensure they are adequately staffed. The alerts also encourage health services to be on the lookout for unusual disease outbreaks.

“It’s another pillar of preparedness and response,” says Dr. Nahid Bhadeliawho directs the Center for Emerging Diseases at Boston University.

The CDC has not issued HANs for this season flueven though a mutated strain has emerged to drive what looks like one of the worst in years. The agency did not send a HAN on measles since March even though the current outbreak in South Carolina is one of the worst in decades and the country may be on the verge of losing its measles elimination status. The CDC has never issued a HAN regarding recent epidemics whooping cough.

“The silence is deafening,” says Benjamin.

Critics like Benjamin say the proliferation of HANs is indicative of CDC muzzling. The agency also publishes fewer reports in its flagship publication, the Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report, canceled one campaign to encourage flu vaccinationhas suspended updating critical databases and rarely briefs journalists.

“Unfortunately, I think this is very emblematic of a decline in communications, both in quantity and quality,” says Dr. Debra Hourywho resigned as CDC’s chief medical officer in August due to Trump administration policies.

She says the agency has been hollowed out by massive layoffs and is now controlled by politicians rather than scientists.

The CDC did not respond to NPR’s questions about the number of HANs. In an email to NPR, Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, called claims that the agency had withdrawn “false.”

“CDC continues to alert the public about urgent public health incidents and works closely with federal, state, territorial, tribal, and local partners to develop response protocols and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders,” Nixon wrote.

Yet outside organizations are trying to fill the void.

“One of the positive aspects is that there is other models being judged. For example, we see a lot of regional consortia where states come together to see what they can do for public health,” says Caitlin Riversepidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University who launched a newsletter called FAITH Clinic. “There is an appetite for more relevant, higher volume communication.”