American College of Physicians condemns CDC rollback on surveillance of infectious disease

Leaves hospitals and doctors to "fly blind"

By American College of Physicians

Edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Robert Egan

An audit of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) public databases found that nearly half of routinely updated federal health surveillance systems had stopped or delayed updates in 2025, raising concerns that gaps in data, particularly on vaccinations and respiratory diseases, could undermine clinical guidance, public health policy, and public trust.

The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Researchers from Vanderbilt University, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Boston University School of Law aimed to identify which CDC databases had unexplained pauses in updates and evaluate how common such pauses were among frequently updated CDC databases.

They reviewed the CDC's public data catalog in October 2025, examining more than 1,300 listed databases and focusing on those that had previously been updated at least monthly.

Using each database's stated update schedule, they classified whether updates were current or paused. Of the 82 databases that met inclusion criteria, 46% had halted updates, most for more than six months. The majority of paused databases tracked vaccination-related information, while others covered respiratory diseases and drug overdose deaths.

As of early December 2025, almost none had resumed updating. The authors conclude that prolonged, unexplained pauses in federal health surveillance data risk weakening evidence-based decision-making and recommend minimum transparency standards, including clear status updates, reasons for delays, and timelines for resuming data publication.

In an accompanying editorial, Jeanne Marrazzo, MD, MPH, CEO of the Infectious Disease Society of America, discusses the role of CDC surveillance in the ability to coordinate effective, urgent responses to public health concerns.

Dr. Marrazzo notes that without reliable data, the US is not only flying blind in the face of emerging and re-emerging threats to human health and well-being, but also is deprived of effective weaponry.

Publication details

Unexplained Pauses in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Surveillance: Erosion of the Public Evidence Base for Health Policy, Annals of Internal Medicine (2026). DOI: 10.7326/ANNALS-25-04022

Annals of Internal Medicine (2026). www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/ANNALS-25-05527

Journal information: Annals of Internal Medicine