Trump admin orders federal health agencies to halt communications

Driving the news: The directive was delivered to officials inside the Department of Health and Human Services' agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), per the Washington Post, which first reported the story.

• The directive did not outline a reason for the pause, how long it is meant to last, or what exactly was covered under it, CNN reported.
• The HHS and NIH did not immediately respond to Axios' requests for comment on Wednesday. The FDA and CDC referred Axios to HHS.

Between the lines: The temporary pause is meant to allow the new administration's team to get settled but will not impact communications related to health emergencies, a source familiar with the matter told Axios.

• While a pause in external communications at the start of a new administration isn't unprecedented, an unnamed source familiar with the directive told CNN that the scope of the order seemed unusual.

Flashback: The first Trump administration in 2017 sent a similar directive pausing external communications to several federal agencies overseeing environmental and scientific policy.

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Editor's note: This story was updated with a comment from an administration official.