HHS Temporarily Mutes Federal Health Officials
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday directed staff at health-related federal departments and agencies to pause all mass communications and public appearances “that are not directly related to emergencies or critical to preserving health.”
The directive, issued by acting Health and Human Services Secretary Dorothy Fink, states that the moratorium on mass communications and disruption of publications and meeting schedules will extend to Feb. 1.
It appears to apply to all agencies falling under the HHS, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.
The existence of the directive was first reported by The Washington Post.
It specifically prohibits the release of any regulations, guidance documents, news releases, and grant announcements, until they have been approved by an administration official or their designee.
“This is a short pause to allow the new team to set up a process for review and prioritization,” a spokesperson for the CDC told The Well News on Thursday.
“There are exceptions for announcements that HHS divisions believe are mission critical, but they will be made on a case-by-case basis,” the spokesperson said.
The first casualty of the moratorium appears to be the CDC’s weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report, which is typically published Thursday morning.
The publication, an update to developments in public health, has been a crucial source of information throughout a string of public health-related product recalls and ongoing avian flu outbreak.
The moratorium has also led to the cancellation of meetings of the outside advisory panels whose opinions inform pending regulatory decisions.
Fink’s directive comes at a time when the leadership at the HSS remains in flux.
The confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s pick to be the head of the department, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., won’t be held for at least another week.
In the meantime, on Monday, the first afternoon of his second term, Trump appointed a number of people to sub-cabinet positions at a number of health-related agencies.
These include television’s Dr. Mehmet Oz, to serve as the new administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; David Weldon to be director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Janette Nesheiwat, to be medical director in the Regular Corps of the Public Health Service; Martin Makary to be commissioner of Food and Drugs at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Also placed into effect Monday afternoon via executive order were a federal hiring freeze, an end to remote work, and the shuttering of diversity, equity and inclusion offices and programs.
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue
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