As measles exploded, West Texas officials looked to CDC scientists. No one answered.

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As measles surged in Texas early this year, the Trump administration’s actions sowed fear and confusion among CDC scientists that kept them from performing the agency’s most critical function — emergency response — when it mattered most, an investigation from KFF Health News shows.

The outbreak soon became the worst the United States has endured in over three decades.

In the month after Donald Trump took office, his administration interfered with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention communications, stalled the agency’s reports , censored its data, and abruptly laid off staff. In the chaos, CDC experts felt restrained from talking openly with loca