Since Donald Trump took office on 20 January, two federal agencies responsible for monitoring and responding to the epidemic have withheld bird flu reports and canceled congressional briefings and meetings with state health officials, the sources said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) withheld two weekly reports, one on bird flu transmission and another on surveillance, and canceled several meetings on bird flu with state officials.
The Trump administration has disrupted the US response to bird flu as the outbreak worsens, leading to confusion and concern among federal staff, state officials, veterinarians and health experts, 11 sources told Reuters.
“The confusion over messaging and who can say what or anything is complicating matters at a bad time,” said Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, who has been working closely with federal and state officials on the bird flu response.
The CDC and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) held no congressional briefings for three weeks, and the USDA did not respond to a state official’s request for information on a new program to protect the nation’s food supply, the sources said.
