CDC Sharply Cuts Health Alerts, Leaving Doctors 'Flying Blind'

NPR reports that the CDC issued only six Health Alert Network (HAN) advisories in 2025—far fewer than in most years—despite a severe flu season, a major measles outbreak in South Carolina and recent whooping cough clusters, prompting leading public‑health experts to warn that clinicians are 'flying blind.' Past HANs have been a core early‑warning system for threats like Ebola, bird flu and COVID‑19, helping doctors know what to test for and hospitals know what to stock and staff for, but the agency has not sent an alert on this winter’s atypical flu, hasn’t updated measles guidance since March, and never issued a HAN on current pertussis outbreaks. Dr. Georges Benjamin of the American Public Health Association likens HANs to 'the weatherman of public health' and says their near‑silence, along with cuts to CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, canceled flu‑vaccine campaigns and paused databases, reflects a broader political muzzling and hollowing‑out of the agency under President Trump. Former CDC chief medical officer Dr. Debra Houry, who resigned in August, says mass firings and political control have sidelined scientists and degraded communications, while CDC and HHS declined to answer detailed questions and instead issued a generic email defense. For hospitals, emergency rooms and local health departments already juggling resurgent measles and a rough flu season, the blackout in federal alerts means less situational awareness and more risk of being blindsided by fast‑moving outbreaks.