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The health department’s politically appointed communications aides have demanded the right to review and seek changes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s weekly scientific reports charting the progress of the coronavirus pandemic, in what officials characterized as an attempt to intimidate the reports’ authors and water down their communications to health professionals. In some cases, emails from communications aides to CDC Director Robert Redfield and other senior officials openly complained that the agency’s reports would undermine President Donald Trump's optimistic messages about the outbreak, according to emails reviewed by POLITICO and three people familiar with the situation. (Diamond, 9/11)

Michael Caputo, the top HHS spokesman, said in an interview Saturday that he and one of his advisers have been seeking greater scrutiny of the CDC’s weekly scientific dispatches, known as the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, for the past 3½ months. The adviser, Paul Alexander, has sent repeated emails to the CDC seeking changes and demanding that the reports be halted until he could make edits. The emails, first reported late Friday by Politico, describe the CDC documents, widely known as the MMWR, as being “hit pieces on the administration.” Caputo confirmed the authenticity of the emails. (Sun, 9/12)

Scientists and physicians reacted with words such as “aghast,” “despicable” and “outrageous” over the weekend as news spread that White House appointees interfered with a basic national public health report when it conflicted with President Donald Trump's coronavirus messaging. Michael Caputo, the Health and Human Services assistant secretary for public affairs, acknowledged Saturday that since June, he and an advisor have been scrutinizing and at times pushing for changes to a weekly health report distributed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Weise and Weintraub, 9/13)

Scientists and physicians are expressing frustration and outrage following reports that top politically appointed Trump administration officials have demanded the right to edit and change weekly Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) scientific reports on the coronavirus pandemic ahead of their public release. The CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports are developed by scientists at the department to inform medical officials and the general public about the spread of COVID-19 and who is most at risk. According to a report from Politico on Saturday, the CDC has increasingly agreed to allow politically-appointed officials to review mortality weekly reports and, in a few cases, alter the wording in the documents. (Seipel, 9/13)