The emerging health communications gulf

Catch up quick: The agency reorganization plan Kennedy first announced last week includes centralizing health communications. Before Tuesday's layoffs, HHS had about 100 separate communications teams within individual divisions that largely operated independently of each other.

• At the CDC, most of the media relations team was laid off on Tuesday, per Stat. The agency's team that processes open records requests was also eliminated.
• The National Institutes of Health also cut entire communications teams, the AP reported.
• Most Food and Drug Administration communications roles were eliminated too.

What they're saying: "Communications to the American people about drug and device safety, product approvals and recalls, and outbreaks will continue in a timely manner — as they have since the start of the new administration," Andrew Nixon, HHS director of communications, said in an email to Axios, and contends the reorganization will improve communications.

Yes, but: Current and former HHS staff say the changes will likely make it harder to get accurate information out.

• It's not just the loss of communications staff, HHS staff say.
• Legislative affairs staff act as the liaison between HHS and Congress. After February's terminations and Tuesday's layoffs, there's no one left in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's legislative affairs office.
• "Both sides of the aisle are going to have an incredibly difficult time getting any information from the agencies. There's going to be extremely long wait times," one employee familiar with the situation said.
• The loss of specialized expertise at the agency "is going to kill thousands of people from mental health, suicide, overdoses," they added.

The big picture: Kennedy is known for spreading misinformation and making dubious health claims. Since starting his role as HHS secretary, he's promoted unproven treatments for measles and downplayed the importance of vaccines.

• Centralizing health communications could give Kennedy more direct control over the information coming out of all facets of the federal health department.
• If agency communications are cut off from HHS central communications, there won't be any "checks and balances" from scientific experts on the messaging, a former FDA official told Axios.
• "Public health communications should be about empowering people with reliable, science-based information, so they can make their own health decisions. Unfortunately, we can't count on Kennedy's HHS for that anymore," Kevin Griffis, who resigned as director of CDC's office of communications last week, wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post.

Between the lines: These layoffs — particularly those within the FDA — could also affect corporate America by making drug manufacturers, food providers and retailers more prone to legal and reputational risk.

• Many of the departing communication professionals shared the latest news and information about product approvals, recalls and outbreaks.
• Each center at the FDA had a protocol for communicating product recalls and working with the drug sponsor or food manufacturer to initiate the recall process, one FDA employee with knowledge told Axios. The layoffs could slow that down, the employee said.
• "I'm concerned that the industry will have more leverage to stall on announcing their recalls," they told Axios.

What to watch: "Communications is much more than putting out press releases and its function incorporates an enormous amount of patient and stakeholder engagement," Susan Mayne, a professor at Yale School of Public Health and former FDA official, told Axios.

• "It is not clear there is any plan that the incoming administration will hear from all impacted stakeholders, including food industry, consumer groups and others."
• The agency is now detailing the structure of each division to streamline operations and become more responsive and will notify external stakeholders and comply with all statutory requirements, per an HHS spokesperson.

More on Axios:

• HHS sees day of chaos as layoffs hit scientists, policy experts