Breakdown In Federal Health Tracking Leaves U.S. Vulnerable To Outbreaks, Pandemics, Experts Warn

Key TakeawaysA failure to properly track vaccination and disease trends is putting the U.S. at riskNearly half of health surveillance databases maintained by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have stopped or delayed updatesThe databases track vaccinations, infectious diseases and drug overdose deaths.TUESDAY, Jan. 27, 2026 (HealthDay News) — The United States is more vulnerable to future outbreaks, pandemics and health crises due to a breakdown in federal disease tracking, a new study says.Nearly half of once-routinely updated health surveillance databases maintained by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stopped or delayed updates in 2025, researchers report today in the Annals of Internal Medicine.Nine out of 10 of the affected databases gathered nationwide data on vaccinations or vaccine-preventable diseases like the flu, COVID-19 and RSV, researchers found. The rest tracked infectious diseases and drug overdose deaths.“This study reports a serious failure to update federal databases that are important to protect Americans from infections and other diseases,” concluded a patient-friendly summary of the study, which was led by Janet Freilich, a professor at Boston University School of Law.“It leaves health care leaders and providers without guidance on ways to deliver care and may also prevent the public from trusting information from the CDC,” the summary read. “The biggest gap in data appeared for immunizations, which compromises this important form of care.”Leading public health and infectious disease organizations said the findings reflect an undermining of systems that protect people from illnesses.“This study gives us a clear sense of how disruptive changes in health data collection and reporting have been so far under the Trump administration and gives us a window into the depth of their mismanagement of our nation’s health information reporting systems,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, CEO of the American Public Health Association.“CDC serves as our nation’s consolidator of health information and has been, unacceptably, crippled in ways that put all at risk,” Benjamin added.For the study, researchers reviewed the CDC’s public data catalog in October 2025, examining 82 databases that previously had been updated a least monthly.Results showed that 46% of the databases had halted updates, most for more than six months. As of early December, only one had resumed updating.Up-to-date public health data enabled experts to increase measles/mumps/rubella vaccination in Texas last year in response to a measles outbreak, noted an accompanying editorial written by Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, CEO of the Infectious Disease Society of America.“The evidence is damning: The administration’s antivaccine stance has interrupted the reliable flow of the data we need to keep Americans safe from preventable infections,” she wrote.“The consequences will be dire,” the editorial warned. “Failing to provide access to accurate, timely data about infectious disease trends serves two malign purposes: undermining our ability to recognize outbreaks or escalation of disease, and thus, respond rapidly and promoting confusion about what is really happening on the front lines of public health.”The effect of the first is obvious, the editorial said.“We will miss early signals of preventable illness, delaying or completely foiling our ability to respond expeditiously,” Marrazzo wrote. “The effect of the second is more subtle but equally harmful. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, who has stated baldly that the CDC failed to protect Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic, is now enacting a self-fulfilling prophecy.”Her conclusion: “The CDC as it currently exists is no longer the stalwart, reliable source of public health data that for decades has set the global bar for rigorous public health practice.”These pauses reflect more than mere paperwork problems, in Benjamin’s view.“The nation’s public health system serves as our nation’s early warning system for new or reemerging or increasing diseases that threaten our health,” he said. “They do this through a series of early warning systems that collect the disjointed information from around our nation and the world, analyze it and then report it out publicly in an organized manner so that health practitioners, public health officials, policy makers and the public can be informed and take necessary action.”The delays are dangerous, he said. “Delays in the reporting can have profound negative effects on both individual and population health by delaying health-protecting or lifesaving preventive actions,” Benjamin said.Dr. Robert Hopkins Jr., medical director of National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, agreed.“Without routine updates, state and local health departments would have less timely and reliable data to detect outbreaks early and respond quickly — especially in communities with lower vaccination rates,” he said. “Over time," Hopkins added, "Gaps in data could limit the CDC’s ability to assess emerging threats and coordinate an effective response, making it harder to protect public health and potentially undermining public confidence in the health care system.”Several factors appear to be contributing to the lack of routine updates, he said.Staffing and funding cuts made under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “have reduced capacity at the CDC and across state and local public health agencies, disrupting continuity and limiting the institutional expertise needed to maintain complex data systems,” Hopkins said.“Research also shows that databases related to infectious diseases and vaccine-preventable diseases have been more heavily impacted than other public health topic areas, indicating that these systems may be particularly vulnerable to resource constraints and the coordination challenges that follow,” Hopkins noted.Unfortunately, he said, the CDC has an irreplaceable role in coordinating disease tracking efforts. It would be difficult for states or medical societies to replicate these tracking systems.“While state health departments provide much of the underlying data, many have been hit hard by reductions in federal funding — much of which traditionally flows through CDC grants,” Hopkins said. “Asking states or medical organizations to fully take over this work would be extremely challenging,” he continued. “Building and maintaining nationwide disease-tracking systems requires specialized expertise, long-term funding, and coordination across all states — something that is difficult and costly to replicate outside the federal government.”More informationThe National Foundation for Infectious Diseases has more on reasons to get vaccinated.SOURCES: American College of Physicians, news release, Jan. 26, 2026; Annals of Internal Medicine, Jan. 26, 2026; Dr. Robert Hopkins Jr., medical director, National Foundation for Infectious Diseases; Dr. Georges Benjamin, CEO, American Public Health Association .What This Means For YouThe U.S. is at greater risk for outbreaks and pandemics due to failed federal tracking of vaccination and infectious disease data..Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

Breakdown In Federal Health Tracking Leaves U.S. Vulnerable To Outbreaks, Pandemics, Experts Warn

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