According to a new report, the CDC is only publishing a small percentage of the COVID-19 data it has collected.
The CDC has been collecting and breaking down data on COVID-19 hospitalizations by race, age and vaccination status for over a year, but most of the information has not been publicized, the New York Times reported, per Just the News.
The health agency first published data two weeks ago on the booster shot effectiveness in adults under the age of 65, but the CDC did not publish hospitalization numbers for those between the ages of 18 and 49.
Some states have been releasing wastewater data, which can be used to predict potential COVID-19 surges. However, the CDC did not begin releasing the data until earlier this month.
CDC spokeswoman Kristen Norlund told the Times that the agency has been slow on releasing data “because basically, at the end of the day, it’s not yet ready for prime time.”
Norlund confirmed that the CDC is hesitant to publish data because the vaccines may be misinterpreted as being ineffective. Another reason is that the CDC data represents about 10 percent of the U.S. population.
