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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vessel Sanitation Program is currently without any full-time employees, according to a report from CBS News. A small group of 12 U.S. Public Health Service officers remain on the job, but their ability to conduct ship inspections will be impacted.
According to the report, the epidemiologist in charge of leading the agency’s cruise ship outbreak response was included in the layoffs. One epidemiologist remains in the program, but is still in the early stages of their training. (It takes around six months to train inspectors.)
The cuts also come as a new strain of norovirus is causing widespread outbreaks on land and at sea. Twelve outbreaks have already been recorded on cruise ships this year. There were only 18 in all of last year.
The cuts also come despite the fact that taxpayer dollars do not fund the department. Instead, it is funded by cruise companies that pay a fee for the program.
According to CBS, an official for the Department of Health and Human Services said the cruise ship inspections will be able to continue, “since many commissioned officers from the U.S. Public Health Service in the program were not affected by the layoffs.”
But CDC officials told CBS News “it would be challenging for the already short-staffed program to avoid cutbacks to inspections and outbreak investigations, given the steep layoffs.”
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