Briefing: Quick updates on Infectious Disease Control + Data Security + Archives & History
This week, we have brief updates from our Infectious Disease Control, Data Security, and Archives & History teams. We’ve also published a new recommended resources page, the first big part of which is our freshly shined-up Tracker tracker, a curated list of datasets, databases, and other dedicated projects that document the administration’s actions in a structured way.
The whole Unbreaking crew will be taking a short break starting next week. We take a quarterly pause for housekeeping, rest, and deeper focus on our collective learning. Although we may publish in the interim, we’re scheduled to be back with regular briefings on April 9.
Infectious Disease Control & Prevention
The Infectious Disease Control page added 13 new items to our timeline. In a key ruling, a federal judge has temporarily invalidated recent changes to childhood vaccine recommendations and schedules, on the grounds that the new members of Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) were illegally appointed. The ruling is welcome but late: More than half of US states have already stopped relying on the CDC when setting their vaccine schedules. Preventive care is also struggling more broadly. The HHS task force responsible for mandating preventive health insurance coverage hasn’t met for a year, and an influential NIH research institute has dropped pandemic preparedness from its mission. And another federal judge has blocked the administration from canceling health grants to Democratic-led states the federal government wants to punish.
Data Security
The Data Security team added 12 new events to the timeline. The administration’s sweeping data-grab continues as DHS seeks access to the highly restricted Federal Parent Locator Service. ProPublica calls FPLS “the most comprehensive government database of people in the United States and their most private information.” A whistleblower alleged that a DOGE operative put the Social Security Administration’s database on a thumb drive to share it with his private employer. The Republican Secretary of State of Idaho refused to turn over the state’s voter rolls, and a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers introduced the Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2026, which aims to restrict warrantless collection of phone data and to close loopholes including the purchase of commercial data for mass surveillance; it’s unclear whether the act is likely to pass.
Archives & History
The Archives & History team added 4 entries to our timeline. An anonymous source leaked a database of mandatory submissions from National Park Service staff (some presumably in earnest, others probably less so) of material that may violate the administration’s rules — including one concerned that a description of an abolitionist’s lynching may “denigrate” the murderers. During Black History Month, Customs and Border Patrol deleted pages featuring prominent Black Americans, a female immigration leader, and anti-exploitation efforts from its website. And a plaque honoring police officers who defended the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was finally installed after three years of delays.
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