Trump Administration Halts Public Health Agencies’ Activities – Forbes
President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in … [+] Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)President Trump has imposed temporary freezes at the National Institutes of Health on meetings, travel, communications and hiring, citing the need to review protocols. Executive orders have also temporarily halted publications of regulations and guidance documents issued by multiple public health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Food and Drug Administration. The pauses are expected to last until the beginning of February, though it appears that cancelations or postponements of certain activities conducted by public health bodies will last longer.In an unprecedented move, the administration has also paused grant reviews at NIH, specifically the independent review panels that assess federal grants for health research, according to Science. Such grants fund the work and salaries of more than 300,000 people at more than 2,500 institutions. It’s unclear when the reviews will resume.The external communications referred to in the executive action include scientific reports, updates to websites, health advisories given to the public and conferences. According to STAT News, a Feb. 20-21 meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, a panel that advises the leadership of the Department of Health and Human Services on vaccine policy, was also canceled.The cancellations followed a directive issued this week by the acting director of the federal Department of Health and Human Services. It’s not uncommon to institute short-term stoppages when a new administration comes in. An NIH spokesperson says that “this is a short pause to allow the new team to set up a process for review and prioritization.” Nevertheless, the measures appear more all-encompassing than ones that were implemented by previous administrations.The gag order, for example, even extends to CDC’s renowned morbidity and mortality weekly report or MMWR. For the first time in its 64 year history the MMWR went dark today.In the CDC’s words, the MMWR is agency’s “primary vehicle for scientific publication of timely, reliable, authoritative, accurate, objective, and useful public health information and recommendations.” The report was indeed originally established to disseminate the results of public health surveillance, both domestically and internationally.A vivid example of just how important the MMWR is to public health was when in June 1981 a cluster of five cases of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in young men in Los Angeles county was reported in MMWR. Previously, this disease was observed mainly in persons with cancer or other immunosuppressive conditions. And so a group of cases in otherwise healthy young men was highly unusual. The attending physician who had treated four of the men, Michael Gottlieb, wanted to publish the cases in a medical journal but knew that would take months. After consulting with colleagues at CDC, then editor Michael Gregg published the report in the MMWR. Its impact was immediate, as clinicians around the the country who had seen similar patients realized the connection to the reported cases in Los Angeles. Recognition of an emerging epidemic, which was later named AIDS, had begun.The New York Times reports that the Trump administration’s suspension of the MMWR could impact timely communication of information on the nation’s escalating bird flu crisis. Moreover, Trump’s signing of an executive order to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization exacerbates the challenges facing public health.None of what has happened thus far is surprising given the statements issued by Trump in the presidential campaign as well as his cabinet selections. Broadly, his picks to run the public health apparatus appear to want to reshape the regulatory framework.Also, Republicans in Congress want to reform the NIH and make changes to the ways in which its $47 billion research budget is allocated. The impetus for an overhaul of the agency comes in part from a desire to rebuild public trust following perceived failures in its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.Trump’s nominee to lead NIH, Jay Bhattacharya, posted on X this past fall that “it is not a virtue to exaggerate an infectious disease threat at the start of a pandemic to panic the population into compliance. It’s not a vice to ask for data to understand the true risk.” Further, in response to his nomination by Trump, he wrote “we will reform American scientific institutions so that they are worthy of trust again.”Perhaps these statements provide clues as to what Bhattacharya may or may not do with respect to policies related to pandemic preparedness. This is certainly important in light of the potential threat that bird flu could pose. But the NIH is much more than an entity designing ways to plan for infectious disease outbreaks. It is a driving force behind research aimed at improving public health.Would he, for instance, go along with what his prospective boss, nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has said and fire and replace 600 employees at the NIH? Or, as a corollary, would he seek to cut roughly in half the number of NIH institutes and centers from 27 down to 15, as Republican legislators have urged? Trump’s issuance of restrictions on public health agencies this week may signal more draconian moves by his appointees in the future. Only time will tell.One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts. Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site’s Terms of Service. We’ve summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain:User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in:So, how can you be a power user?Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site’s Terms of Service.
