A memo issued by the acting HHS director says the pause will be in effect until Feb. 1.
The Trump administration’s has placed a freeze on many federal health agency communications with the public until at least the end of the month.
In a Jan. 21 memo, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Acting Secretary Dorothy Fink told agency staff officials that an “immediate pause” had been ordered on announcements, press releases, social media posts, regulations, and guidance until those communications were approved by an appointee.
Agencies that are affected include HHS-supervised agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and many others. The pause is in effect through Feb. 1, according to the memo.
The pause announced by Fink includes anything that may be published in the Federal Register as well as in the CDC’s publication, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which offers studies and alerts on a range of health-related subject matter. Nothing has been published in the CDC publication since Jan. 16, or four days before President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Fink said in the memo that some exceptions would be made for communications