CDC Data Is Copious, But Can You Trust It?

The quality of data at the CDC, long known for its world-class science, is now open to question for journalists, writes Reporter’s Toolbox, as politics appears to have warped its agenda. Photo: CDC.gov

Reporter’s Toolbox: CDC Data Is Copious, But Can You Trust It?

By Joseph A. Davis

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has some of the best environmental health data available.

Or used to have. 

The quality of CDC data is now questionable under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s administration of the Health and Human Services Department. 

Almost every Toolbox we’ve published has included an assessment of the quality of the data it presents. We have tried to present only reliable data. 

 

Kennedy has fiddled with

the data so much that

Toolbox no longer trusts it.

 

So we have to warn you: Kennedy has fiddled with the data so much that Toolbox no longer trusts it.

We regret not telling journalists about all the good stuff before Kennedy took over. Still, you might want to know what to look for when Kennedy eventually leaves office.

Where to find the data

An earlier Toolbox told readers a lot about the environmental health sources of CDC data. It’s still worth a visit, offering perspective we gloss over here.

CDC data is at least well organized — you can use various data portals and query engines to find what you want or what they have. Almost all of it is freely available online, searchable, downloadable and well documented. 

Here are some of the starting points:

• CDC Wonder: This is one of CDC’s more advanced query engines — worth checking out. You can get a pretty full look at its features.
• National Center for Health Statistics: This is an organizational entity, as well as a bunch of databases. A lot are about what we call “vital statistics.” It has its own query engine.
• Topical datasets: Though data nerds may look at this as a legacy feature, its huge, alphabetical topic index gives a good sense of how much environmental health data CDC has.
• And more: That’s hardly all of it. Get an idea of how much more there is through the National Center for Health Statistics and Health, United States – Data Finder.

What’s wrong with CDC data

The problem is: Kennedy, as HHS secretary, is the boss of CDC. He interferes with the formerly world-class science at the agency — substituting his own eccentric and unscientific theories for long-established science on public health. Staff have been quitting on principle.

Kennedy has been monkeying with CDC data in an effort to elevate his discredited ideas. For example, he still seems to believe the authoritatively discredited idea that the childhood MMR vaccine causes autism. It doesn’t. 

 

Other agencies have to

fire people; at CDC,

they resign in droves.

 

Public health professionals have been hard to keep in top CDC jobs because of Kennedy’s political interference at the agency. Other agencies have to fire people; at CDC, they resign in droves.

Now Kennedy has started a new CDC study that allows doctors to bill if they submit evidence of a vaccine “injury.”

The United States had almost eradicated measles (thanks to the vaccine). Now, as a full-blown measles outbreak is spreading state-to-state, his agencies are reluctant to report cases — that is, to warn people.

Bottom line: For now, don’t trust CDC data unless you can verify it. Check in with your state or county health department.

[Editor's Note: Also see a recent Issues Backgrounder on whether we're ready for the next pandemic, plus the latest CDC-related headlines from EJToday.]

Joseph A. Davis is a freelance writer/editor in Washington, D.C. who has been writing about the environment since 1976. He writes SEJournal Online's TipSheet, Reporter's Toolbox and Issue Backgrounder, and curates SEJ's weekday news headlines service EJToday and @EJTodayNews. Davis also directs SEJ's Freedom of Information Project and writes the WatchDog opinion column.

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* From the weekly news magazine SEJournal Online, Vol. 11, No. 37. Content from each new issue of SEJournal Online is available to the public via the SEJournal Online main page. Subscribe to the e-newsletter here. And see past issues of the SEJournal archived here.