The new US Administration has ordered all 13 operating divisions of its Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to stop all external communications until 1 February.

It has also halted grant payments, and frozen all travel ‘indefinitely’ and cancelled attendance at various external meetings of National Institutes of Health staff, according to Nature.

The communications blackout memo, issued by acting Secretary of HHS Dr Dorothy Fink, calls for an “immediate pause” on any regulations, guidance, announcements, press releases, social media posts, and website updates until it has been approved by an incoming “Presidential appointee”. The memo was first obtained by The Washington Post and the Associated Press (AP).

The directive affects all HHS operating divisions, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) until the end of the month. 

While a short pause is normal during a political change-over, the length of this pause – 10 days – is unprecedented, according to several commentators.

“I don’t see any reason why we would need to have a total pause in the sharing of information,” said Dr Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy in the latest episode of his podcast.

He added that an extended pause could jeopardize the ability of agencies like the CDC and FDA to respond to emerging public health crises.

Dr Ali Khan, a former CDC outbreak investigator who is now dean of the University of Nebraska’s public health college, told AP  that it takes time for a new administration to find its feet.

“The only concern would be if this is a prelude to going back to a prior approach of silencing the agencies around a political narrative,” he added.

US President Donald Trump faced criticism in his first term when he contradicted and often undermined CDC publications. Several prominent Trump officials, including the top spokesperson for HHS, tried to silence the CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The weekly epidemiological report, which publishes statistics on disease incidence and the CDC’s efforts to tackle diseases, is widely used in public health. 

Exceptions to the directive include any communications affecting “critical health, safety, environmental, or nation security functions,” wrote Fink. 

The FDA continued to issue warning letters to companies over safety violations, such as adulterated drug ingredients. It also updated its recalls, market withdrawals, and safety alerts page since the memo was issued on Tuesday. But web pages such as the CDC’s respiratory illness surveillance dashboards, have not been updated. 

Long-scheduled meetings and grant reviews were also abruptly canceled. The CDC called off a clinical laboratory monthly meeting that would share updates about emerging threats and testing changes, according to The Washington Post.

“Americans depend on timely information from the CDC, the FDA, and other agencies,” Dr Peter Lurie, president of the consumer advocacy group the Center for Science in the Public Interest, told the AP. 

“When it comes to stopping outbreaks, every second counts,” Lurie said in a statement to the AP. “Confusion around the vaguely worded gag order is likely to lead to unnecessary delay in publishing urgent public alerts during active outbreaks.”

Grant reviews, hiring frozen

The directive also brings the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) lengthy scientific grant review process to a standstill.

“All NIH study sections canceled indefinitely. This will halt science and devastate research budgets in universities,” said Dr Jane Liebschutz, an opioid addiction researcher at the University of Pittsburgh who posted on Bluesky about canceled study review activities. “Even short delays will put the United States behind in research.”

The NIH is the largest single public funder of biomedical and behavioral research in the world. Every $1 investment yields a $2.46 return, according to its Office of Budget. The extent to which this transitional period will jeopardize US research activities is unclear.

Tuesday’s memo comes during the Trump administration’s flurry of executive orders across the federal government – including those that freeze hiring, halt diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts and put staff on leave, and require all federal employees to work in-person.

“The majority of these executive actions would take us farther from, not closer to, a civil service system that prizes merit, expertise and professionalism free from political interference,” wrote Max Stier, president and CEO of the non-partisan nonprofit Partnership for Public Service in a statement following the 20 January executive orders.

“A civil service staffed by people chosen for their political loyalty rather than their skill will result in a government less capable of serving the public and more likely to become a tool for retribution and actions counter to democratic principles. A more political government is not a better government for the American people.”

HHS was the only department singled out for a communications freeze.

Trump’s pick for HHS secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, is set to testify next week for his Senate confirmation hearing. Several Republican senators have not yet said whether they will vote for the controversial figure, citing his stance on abortion and vaccines. 

Image Credits: NIH, HHS.