Health officials and experts said they are reeling after the Trump administration abruptly halted external communication at the Department of Health and Human Services and its agencies.
By Dan Diamond, Lena H. Sun, Carolyn Y. Johnson and Mark Johnson, The Washington PostThe Trump administration halted communications at the Department of Health and Human Services.
“HHS has issued a pause on mass communications and public appearances that are not directly related to emergencies or critical to preserving health,” Stefanie Spear, an HHS spokesperson and longtime ally of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s pick to run HHS, said in a statement. “This is a short pause to allow the new team to set up a process for review and prioritization.
Seewaldt has spent two decades serving on study sections, which review research proposals and rate them based on their scientific merit. She said there is no precedent for the pause. Some former Trump officials have defended the halt as the necessary work of a presidential transition. Christopher Fox, the CEO of the International Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research, said he logged onto a long-scheduled meeting of dental researchers hosted by NIH on Wednesday morning only to hear from a federal official that communications had been paused and to stand by. More than 40 minutes later, he said, another NIH official joined the broadcast and said the session was postponed.
The list of postponed meetings has continued to grow, such as a planned meeting next week of the president’s council on how to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Federal researchers contacted by The Post on Thursday said they were still seeking answers about whether their workshops and discussions with external experts could proceed.
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