Since January, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has dismissed hundreds of employees and cut programs in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) including immunization review boards like the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). CDC’s cuts to public health staff and resources coupled with messaging about the measles vaccines, the ongoing measles outbreak and news coverage around autism studies has raised concern among medical experts and others that the nation’s leading public health agency is not appropriately and transparently studying the prevalence, causes and treatments of diseases and disorders.

Additionally, despite the CDC’s obligation under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to post certain requested records on its reading room website, it does not appear that the agency has fulfilled its obligation since March 2025. The agency’s reading room website does not appear to have published records since March 2025, and the HHS reading room website does not appear to have any recently requested records either.

CREW has requested HHS and CDC agency records on any and all communications, policies, directives and guidances that mention or relate to departmental employment and the conditions and diseases of autism and measles, respectively. CREW has also requested records related to the ACIP. 

HHS planned to reduce staffing by close to 20,000 employees, then ended up hiring back over a thousand employees. This sudden reorganization as well as the circulation of non-detailed information about conditions like autism that affect millions of Americans and diseases like measles that pose a public health emergency impacts the health and safety of the public. Americans deserve to know how HHS and CDC are making decisions that affect their health.

FOIA requests

Read More in FOIA Requests