Famed CDC journal goes unpublished amid HHS communications freeze
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Key takeaways:
- Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report is the CDC’s primary medical journal.
- The journal went unpublished for the first time amid an HHS communications freeze.
The CDC’s primary medical journal for disseminating public health information went unpublished this week — seemingly for the first time ever — amid a communications freeze issued by HHS to the nation’s various health agencies.
The shelving of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report raised concern among experts, who worried it will slow the dissemination of important information and could damage the journal’s standing as an unbiased journal.
“The bottom line is, every day the publication is delayed, doctors, nurses, hospitals, local health departments and first responders are behind the information curve and less prepared to protect the health of all Americans,” former CDC director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, told Healio.
The Washington Post was the first media outlet to obtain a memo issued by HHS this week after the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump that instructed the CDC, FDA and NIH to halt external communications, including the publishing of the journal, which is commonly called MMWR. According to the Post, health officials are wary the pause resembles efforts by the first Trump administration to influence the CDC during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A CDC spokesperson confirmed the pause to Healio but said it is temporary and pertains to “mass communications and public appearances that are not directly related to emergencies or critical to preserving health.”
“This is a short pause to allow the new team to set up a process for review and prioritization,” the spokesperson said. “There are exceptions for announcements that HHS divisions believe are mission critical, but they will be made on a case-by-case basis.”
It was the first time in the more than 60-year history of MMWR that a new issue was not published, according to Frieden, who led the CDC under President Barack Obama.
Likewise, Healio | Infectious Disease News Editorial Board Member William Schaffner, MD, professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said he was not aware of another time the journal went unpublished.
“This is the first time in my knowledge that an administration has not let it be published,” Schaffner told Healio. “It begins to tarnish the reputation of MMWR as being objective and scientific and not influenced by politics.”
The journal is the CDC’s main outlet for the publication of emerging public health information, outbreak reports, new vaccine recommendations and research related to both chronic and infectious diseases.
“An unbiased science-based ... conduit of important information,” Schaffner called it.
Known as “the voice of the CDC,” MMWR was first published by the agency on Jan. 13, 1961, although the journal had several previous incarnations that dated all the way back to 1878, according to the CDC.
It carries a diversity of articles, including reports from the disease detectives of the CDC’s famed Epidemic Intelligence Service. It is also a common source of information about emerging threats. An online search of MMWR articles related to the COVID-19 pandemic turned up 585 results. According to the Post, this week’s issue would have included three reports about the H5N1 bird flu outbreak.
MMWR is also covered habitually by reporters, who receive an embargoed copy of the journal’s articles in advance of publication each week to give them time to prepare stories. Issues are generally published online on Thursday at 1 p.m. ET, although they sometimes go up at other times, particularly during weeks that include a holiday.
As of midday Friday, what would have been the fourth issue of MMWR this year was still not posted online, nor had it been sent to reporters.
Schaffner said he hoped the communications pause would be short-lived and that “routine communications from the CDC and other federal agencies about so many important issues will go back to their normal frequency.”
References:
- CDC. About the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/about.html. Last reviewed Dec. 3, 2024. Accessed Jan. 24, 2025.
- Shaw FE, et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2011;60(04);2-6.
- Sun L, et al. Trump officials pause health agencies’ communications, citing review. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/01/21/trump-hhs-cdc-fda-communication-pause. Published Jan. 21, 2025. Accessed Jan. 24, 2025.
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