Dorothy A. Fink, M.D.
Acting Secretary
Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue SW Washington, D.C. 20201
Susan Monarez, Ph.D.
Acting Director
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30329
To Acting Secretary Fink and Acting Director Monarez:
We are writing on behalf of the 1,400 members of the Association of Health Care Journalists, to protest the removal of vital public health data from the CDC website, including survey results from the Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System, the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index, and AtlasPlus, an interactive CDC tool with years of data on social determinants of health and diseases including HIV, TB, and STDs.
These data are used by journalists every day to report stories about public health.
At a time when the rise in chronic illnesses and harmful behaviors among young people is at the top of the national agenda, the YRBS data on smoking, vaping, drinking, eating, exercise, and sexual behavior are crucial for reporters trying to inform the public about these issues. The county-level Social Vulnerability Index data is important to inform reporting on communities’ resilience and ability to respond when faced with disasters such as wildfires and severe weather.
Even the temporary removal of such data will impair our members’ ability to give the public essential and timely health information. We request the immediate restoration of sites that have been taken down in recent days, and that the agency not take down other pages with critical health data.
Sincerely,
Felice J. Freyer, president
Gideon Gil, vice president
Andrea Waner, interim executive director
Association of Health Care Journalists
