An investigation by NPR reveals that health warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have decreased amid outbreaks nationwide.
As the nation’s top health protection agency, the CDC aims to save lives and protect people from health threats through critical scientific research and health information. However, as NPR points out, communication to the public on its platforms has either gone silent or has not been updated regularly like before.
“Public health functions best when its experts are allowed to communicate the work that they do in real time, and that’s not happening,” Kevin Griffis, the former director of communications at the CDC until March, told the publication.
He says people’s lives could be at risk without the critical health updates.
What Has Changed At The CDC
Before President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the CDC managed most of its communication through social media platforms and newsletters. Staff communicated health messages daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly through its network of 150 newsletters on topics including diabetes and food safety.
After President Trump’s inauguration, the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, instructed the CDC to change its communication. The Trump administration sent directives to HHS that halted communication at the National Institutes of Health, the FDA, and the CDC until further notice, NBC reports.
How Americans Are Impacted By the CDC’s Change in Health Warnings
Social media is one of the fastest and effective ways for the CDC to disseminate information. Doctors, scientists, and researchers were allowed to update platforms quickly. The CDC has a following of over 13 million people on Instagram, X, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
According to NPR’s investigation, some publications that have gone silent include the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and the weekly publication on disease outbreaks. This comes amid a historic rise in measles cases in some parts of the U.S., salmonella, listeria, and hepatitis A and C.
HHS approval is now a requirement for posting, but CDC employees told NPR investigators that health department officials are not accepting their content for social media.
However, Director of Communications at HHS Andrew Nixon says that the CDC staff is spreading false rumors.
When looking at the CDC’s social media account, the last post on its main Facebook page is a reel about germs and humidifiers on March 31, at the time of this report.
On X, the last post on May 14 discussed preliminary data showing a decline in overdose deaths between 2023 and 2024. The post before that responded to a news story on May 3 about inaccurate reporting.
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