'Voice of the CDC' resumes publication, but experts worry about what they're not hearing

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. A CDC spokesperson didn't say why the articles weren't published this week but said they "are still in the pipeline.” Dr. Tom Frieden, the CDC director during the Obama administration, said he was pleased to see the journal return but also concerned that it “doesn’t contain any reports on bird flu spreading in animals and people, the new strain of mpox spreading or other emerging health threats.” Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said he wants to see meatier issues that have the information that researchers, local health officials and others need “to make data-driven decisions.” The MMWR has been called “the voice of the CDC.” Published weekly since 1961, it has for generations been the main way the agency recounted disease investigations, shared public health recommendations and conveyed other health information. Typically released every Thursday, the journal has more than 147,000 electronic subscribers — a readership that’s mainly doctors, nurses, educators, researchers and public health scientists. “If political decisions determine which health threats to highlight, we’ll all be less safe," said Frieden, president of Resolve to Save Lives, a not-for-profit organization that works on international public health issues. “I hope the new administration will see the value in CDC publishing information on health threats every week, without political interference.” ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.