In a concerning move, the Trump administration’s Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has laid off all full-time employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Vessel Sanitation Program.
Multiple officials told CBS News that this team, which is responsible for inspecting cruise ships and investigating onboard disease outbreaks, has been gutted, leaving a limited group of a dozen U.S. Public Health Service officers on staff. The epidemiologist responsible for overseeing the agency’s response to cruise ship outbreaks was among those who’ve been dismissed.
Oddly enough, the Vessel Sanitation Program is not even funded through taxpayer dollars, but instead operates through fees collected from cruise lines. This has left many within the CDC puzzled as to why the program’s civilian staff was included in Kennedy’s recent layoffs across U.S. public health agencies. The sweeping cuts eliminated approximately 2,400 CDC roles in total.
The layoffs come amid an unprecedented spike in norovirus cases across the U.S., fueled primarily by a newly emerged strain. So far this year, at least a dozen cruise ship outbreaks—most linked to norovirus—have been reported, with some incidents resulting in dozens or even hundreds of passengers falling ill. By comparison, only 18 outbreaks were recorded throughout all of 2024. According to one official, staff members were actively responding to two ongoing outbreaks when they were dismissed.
A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson opined that cruise ship operations could continue as usual, noting that numerous commissioned officers from the U.S. Public Health Service assigned to the program were not impacted by the layoffs.
"Critical programs in the CDC will continue under Secretary Kennedy's vision to streamline HHS to better serve Americans. CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) continues to monitor and assist with gastrointestinal outbreaks and track and report these illnesses," the HHS spokesperson said in a statement.
Multiple CDC officials cautioned that, in light of these layoffs, it would be difficult for the already understaffed program to prevent reductions in inspections and outbreak investigations. One official described the HHS statement as "frustrating", noting that inspectors will now be burdened with additional administrative work previously handled by the laid-off team.
"None of the civilian staff are there to support them. So I don't know how long they will be able to sustain their mission alone without any support," said Erik Svendsen, who led the CDC's now-defunct Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, which oversaw the Vessel Sanitation program.
At its peak, the VSP employed about two dozen staffers, although the program had already grappled with staffing shortages before this latest blow. In the last fiscal year, nearly 200 cruise ship inspections were conducted—work that now appears increasingly unsustainable with the reduced headcount.
"Affected services include outbreak investigations, coordination with state and local health departments, follow-up on lab-confirmed cases of acute gastroenteritis after travel, and communications such as website updates," the CDC official said. Only one epidemiologist now remains on the team to investigate outbreaks, and that individual is still undergoing training.
Cruise ship inspectors are responsible for evaluating medical facilities, food safety and water systems—areas where the CDC often serves as the only regulatory authority. With training for new inspectors taking up to six months and officials calling recruitment difficult due to a demanding travel schedule, the program’s future remains in doubt.
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