cdc-health-mcp-server

Search and query CDC public health data — mortality, vaccinations, surveillance, behavioral risk.

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What it can do

    What data it sees

    Do you need an account

    No: the server works without sign-in

    Search and query CDC public health data — mortality, vaccinations, surveillance, behavioral risk.

    How to connect

    How to connect cdc-health-mcp-server to Claude

    The server address to paste into Claude settings:

    https://cdc.caseyjhand.com/mcp

    1. Open Claude (claude.ai or the desktop app).
    2. Go to Settings → Connectors.
    3. Click Add custom connector.
    4. Paste the server address copied below into Remote MCP server URL and click Add.
    5. In a chat, click + → Connectors and switch the new connector on.

    Custom connectors are available on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans (Free is limited to one). On Team and Enterprise an organization Owner adds the connector first under Organization settings → Connectors.

    Authorization

    After you click Add, a sign-in window for the service opens. Sign in with your own account and approve access. Claude never sees your password.

    How to connect cdc-health-mcp-server to ChatGPT

    The server address to paste into ChatGPT settings:

    https://cdc.caseyjhand.com/mcp

    1. Open ChatGPT in a browser (chatgpt.com). A Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu plan is required.
    2. Turn on developer mode once: Settings → Apps → Advanced settings → Developer mode.
    3. Open Settings → Connectors and click Create.
    4. Fill in the form: Name (anything), Description (one line about what the service does), MCP server URL (copy it below).
    5. Under Authentication choose OAuth if the service requires sign-in, otherwise None. Click Create.
    6. In a new chat open + → Apps/Connectors and enable the connector.

    OpenAI has renamed this section before (Connectors → Apps/Plugins). If the label differs, search settings for "developer mode". On Business/Enterprise workspaces an admin must allow custom connectors first.

    Authorization

    On first use ChatGPT opens the service's sign-in window. Sign in and approve access.

    How to connect cdc-health-mcp-server to Cursor

    The server address to paste into Cursor settings:

    https://cdc.caseyjhand.com/mcp

    Fastest: click Open in Cursor below and confirm the prompt.

    Manually:

    1. In Cursor open Settings → Cursor Settings → MCP and click Add new global MCP server.
    2. Paste the JSON copied below into ~/.cursor/mcp.json (per project: .cursor/mcp.json in the repo root).
    3. Save the file. The server appears in the MCP list; authorize it there if asked.

    Authorization

    If the service needs sign-in, an authorize button appears next to the server in the MCP list.

    Server tool list (4)

    Raw names from tools/list. Only developers need these.

    cdc_discover_datasetsSearch the CDC dataset catalog by keyword, category, or tag. Returns IDs, names, truncated descriptions, asset types, column counts, and update timestamps. The catalog also holds charts, maps, stories, files, and links; an entry whose columnCount is 0 is one of those and yields no data from the other tools. Use cdc_get_dataset_schema for the full column list of a chosen dataset.
    cdc_get_dataset_schemaFetch the column schema for a CDC dataset — names, data types, descriptions, row count, and last-updated timestamp. Returns the first 100 columns by default; wide datasets continue via column_offset. Get dataset IDs from cdc_discover_datasets.
    cdc_query_datasetExecute a SoQL query against any CDC dataset. Supports filtering, aggregation, sorting, full-text search, and field selection. Use cdc_discover_datasets to find dataset IDs and cdc_get_dataset_schema to inspect columns before querying.
    cdc_query_wonderQuery CDC WONDER for national US mortality statistics — deaths, population, and crude/age-adjusted death rates — across its five mortality databases, selected with the database input: final underlying-cause data for 1999–2020 (the default) or 2018–2024, provisional data running from 2018 through the current year, and two multiple-cause databases covering the same two eras. Break results out by year, age group, sex, and/or race, and filter by ICD-10 cause of death, sex, age group, or year range; on a multiple-cause database, mcd_icd10 additionally matches a cause listed anywhere on the death certificate rather than only the one certified as underlying. Each database holds a different span of years (1999–2026 across all of them) and a request whose year_range falls outside the selected one's span is rejected with that span named. WONDER is a separate CDC system from the Socrata datasets the other cdc_* tools query. Data is national only — sub-national (state/county) breakdowns are not available through the API (CDC vital-statistics policy). Cause of death is a filter, not a grouping. Some measure cells come back as a CDC status token rather than a number — "Suppressed" (withheld for confidentiality), "Unreliable" (a rate from fewer than 20 deaths), or "Not Applicable" (no population denominator); those cells read null in rows and each one is listed in cellNotes with its token. CDC also drops whole rows before sending the table — strata with zero deaths, and strata whose death count is suppressed — so a stratum can be missing from rows entirely; messages carries CDC's statement whenever that happened. The whole table comes back by default; a broad grouping can run past a thousand rows, so set limit to take it a page at a time and follow the nextOffset the response reports. Paging shapes the response only — WONDER is asked once either way, and the figures, caveats and hidden-row notices are the same on every page. CDC rejects requests made less than 15 seconds apart acr