The Trump Administration is Doomed to Protect: Research Grants and Research Review Panels Cannot be Featured in the CDC, the National Institutes of Health

The CDC responded to a query from NPR by sending a statement to the HHS and referring additional questions.

The weekly updates that the agency published on Friday were not regular. It updated one page on the agency’s website about the overall activity of respiratory viruses across the nation and another that specifies how widely COVID-19, RSV and the flu are spreading.

It was the first time in decades that the CDC has not published its weekly publication, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The Pandemic Center at Brown University’s Jen Nuzzo told NPR that the CDC’s decision to not publish scientific data via the MMWR is a radical departure from protocol that will undermine public trust in the Trump Administration.

She said Americans depended on this publication for advice on how to protect themselves and to learn about the health of their communities. “This obvious political tampering with that process will only cast doubts on the administration’s intentions to keep Americans safe.”

A pause in external communications issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services on 21 January is what led to the cancellation of meetings and travel. In the past when new administrations have started, researchers say a short, daylong pause in communications has happened, but this is the first time they have seen the reach and lengths of the Trump team. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke cannot grant research grants because of the lack of advisory-committee meetings.

The halt comes amidst widespread concern and follows a number of issues such as a canceled scientific meeting, a halt on travel by federal scientists, and requests about diversity, equity and inclusion.

David Gillum, the associate vice president of compliance and research administration at the University of Nevada, Reno, says there is a lot of confusion and misinformation about what researchers should be doing.

Confusion and anxiety is rippling through the US health-research community this week following Donald Trump taking office as the 47th US president. His administration has abruptly cancelled research-grant reviews, travel and trainings for scientists inside and outside the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the world’s largest public biomedical funder. The Trump team apparently deleted the entire diversity programmes and diversity-related grants website from their site.

There were questions about whether grant-review panels were considered public appearances, why they were canceled, and if the pause will hinder the agency’s mission.

Typically, theNIH awards research grants when two separate panels of independent specialists in a particular scientific field review project proposals. On Wednesday, reports emerged on the social-media platforms X and Bluesky that grant-review panels scheduled prior to 2 February had been cancelled without any indication of when they would be rescheduled.

The emergency-medicine physician at the Oregon Health & Science University cancelled a study section this week, according to a letter she wrote on Bluesky. She said that as a reviewer, you constantly read ideas for research projects that can be a game-changer in health. She hopes we get back on track soon. There are real lives waiting on the science.