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Outlet profile

CDC (Health Alert Network / outbreak pages)

U.S. federal government public health

Owned byU.S. federal government; operated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
FundingAnnual congressional discretionary appropriations through the Labor, HHS, and Education appropriations bill; supplemented by mandatory Prevention and Public Health Fund allocations and emergency supplemental appropriations; the FY2026 proposed budget would eliminate the mandatory fund stream and cut CDC's overall budget by roughly 53 percent
On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

The Health Alert Network was established in 1999, following a period of heightened bioterrorism concern sparked by events such as the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the Tokyo sarin attacks. CDC built HAN in partnership with organizations including the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), aiming to link local health departments, hospitals, laboratories, and federal agencies into a single rapid-alert infrastructure. Over time HAN became CDC's primary mechanism for distributing urgent public health communications — health alerts, advisories, and updates — to more than one million subscribers, the majority of them clinicians and public health workers. The CDC itself was founded in 1946 in Atlanta and has long served as the federal government's principal disease-tracking and public health agency, with no advertising revenue or private ownership; it operates entirely on congressionally appropriated funds. Shortly after taking office in January 2025, the Trump administration's HHS instructed CDC and other health agencies to pause external communications pending political review, temporarily halting new guidance, social media posts, and outside scientific collaboration. By early 2026, HAN alerts had slowed to a trickle compared to prior administrations; former CDC chief medical officer Dr. Debra Houry, who resigned in August 2025 citing administration policies, called it 'emblematic of a decline in the communications, both in the amount as well as the quality.' HHS disputed those characterizations, but independent public health observers and media reporting documented the drop in alert volume and said it risks leaving clinicians less informed about active outbreaks.

Sources

  1. About the Health Alert Network — CDC
  2. Health Alert Network — Wikipedia
  3. CDC issues fewer health alerts during second Trump term — NPR
  4. Diseases are spreading. The CDC isn't warning the public like it was months ago — NPR
  5. HHS official halts CDC reports and health communications for Trump team review — NBC News
  6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Funding Overview — Congressional Research Service
  7. New Analysis: CDC budget would be cut 53% under FY2026 proposal — Trust for America's Health

Profile compiled 2026-07-17; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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