CBS News – Trump administration political appointees have taken steps in recent weeks to exert unprecedented influence over the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s flagship medical research publication, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, multiple federal health officials tell CBS News.
The interference included dictating what to cover and withholding studies on the growing bird flu outbreak.
The Trump administration’s moves to control the research published by the agency ends a decades-long streak of independence for the journal, known as the MMWR.
Health officials and experts have long considered the MMWR as the “voice of CDC” and a respected source where federal scientists release research of public health importance. It ranks as among the most-cited health journals in the world.
“The MMWR has lost its autonomy,” one health official told CBS News.
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Efforts by Trump officials to control the publication have stalled the release of three studies about bird flu for weeks, as the virus continues spreading through wild birds, poultry farms and cows around the country.
That delay was initially attributed to the communications “pause” ordered by the Department of Health and Human Services, which stalled many releases across the government.
Spokespeople for the CDC and HHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump officials initially said the gag order was needed for the administration to catch up in staffing its public relations team to oversee the vast amount of communications coming out of the nations’ federal health agencies.
But as that pause has started to lift, Trump officials at HHS, and acting CDC Director Susan Monarez, refused repeated requests by career health officials to publish the completed research, officials say.
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The stalled research includes findings about pet cats owned by dairy workers being infected with bird flu, plus wastewater testing results and antibody testing of cow veterinarians …