The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is abandoning ship on monitoring cruise-related outbreaks of norovirus and other stomach bugs. The federal government has reportedly fired all full-time staff in the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program—right in the middle of an especially disease-ridden year for cruises.
CBS News first reported on the mass layoffs Thursday, citing multiple anonymous officials. A skeleton crew of 12 U.S. Public Health Service officers will reportedly remain to respond to these outbreaks, but the epidemiologist in charge of leading the CDC’s response has been let go. There have already been a dozen outbreaks aboard cruises in U.S. waters—most involving norovirus—so far this year, well above the typical pace.
The VSP layoffs appear to be part of the Trump administration’s plan to drastically cut jobs across the agencies under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Following the advice of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), HHS chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced last month that the HHS will fire 10,000 full-time employees, including 2,400 at the CDC.
This supposed “re-structuring” is intended to reduce inefficiency at HHS and save taxpayers money—shaky justifications that make even less sense with these latest layoffs. The VSP is funded by fees paid by cruise ship companies, for instance, not taxpayers. And the department had been struggling with staffing shortages prior to the cuts, according to officials cited by CBS News. Despite these shortages, VSP staff inspected nearly 200 ships last fiscal year.
Norovirus in general has been surging as of late, with a higher number of outbreaks in the U.S. reported since last summer than the tally reported in recent seasons. These outbreaks on both land and sea may be fueled by the emergence of a new variant of the virus.
In a statement to CBS News, HHS claimed that “critical programs in the CDC will continue under Secretary Kennedy’s vision to streamline HHS.” Yet given the worsening vomit-soaked mess already unfolding on cruise ships this year, it’s hard to imagine how the situation will get any better with no full-time staff at the CDC to keep an eye on things.
There were a total of 18 reported cruise ship outbreaks in 2024 and 14 outbreaks in 2023—numbers that could be surpassed this year even before the summer cruise season starts in earnest. Now that the CDC is fighting with both arms tied behind its back, norovirus and other common cruise ship bugs are likely to get plenty more fun in the sun at the expense of cruisegoers.
