01/29/2026
We need to find new sources of health data
A new audit found that many U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public health surveillance databases that normally refresh on a routine schedule were no longer current through large parts of 2025. The concern is that critical public dashboards can look “active” while the underlying data stops arriving on time.
Researchers reviewed the CDC’s public data catalog in October 2025, scanning more than 1,300 listings and narrowing in on systems that had previously updated at least monthly. From that review, 82 databases met the criteria for “frequently updated” surveillance sources.
Within those 82, the audit reported that 46% had halted updates, and many interruptions lasted longer than six months. The reporting emphasized that, as of early December 2025, almost none of the paused systems had resumed regular updating.
The gaps were concentrated in vaccination-related reporting. Nearly 90% of the paused databases focused on vaccines or vaccine-preventable disease topics, while other paused systems tracked respiratory diseases and drug overdose deaths.
The work was conducted by researchers affiliated with Vanderbilt University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Boston University School of Law, and it was published through Annals of Internal Medicine as “Unexplained Pauses in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Surveillance: Erosion of the Public Evidence Base for Health Policy” (DOI: 10.7326/ANNALS-25-04022).
An accompanying editorial highlighted why this matters operationally: surveillance data supports clinical guidance, outbreak detection, and rapid public health response. The editorial referenced the risk of weakened decision-making and eroding trust when routine, high-visibility data streams become unreliable.
Public discussion has also played out in visible protests, including demonstrations outside the CDC in Atlanta, reflecting broader anxiety about staffing, funding, and the stability of core public health functions.
