Through just the first four months of 2025, there have been at least a dozen viral outbreaks on cruise ships, the vast majority of which were found to be Norovirus. The latest outbreak of Pukes and Runs occurred on the Seabourn Cruise Lines Encore, which recently returned to Miami with 35 Norovirus-sickened passengers aboard, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Unfortunately for the next group of passengers to board the Encore, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. apparently decided everyone working for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vessel Sanitation Program was probably unnecessary, and so he laid them all off.
You would think the guy who insists he’s going to make America healthy again would fully support the people monitoring, tracking, and assisting cruise lines as they attempt to deal with Losing It From Both Ends Disease, especially since 2025 has been a record year for Norovirus, but nope. Kennedy even got rid of the epidemiologist in charge of the CDC’s cruise ship outbreak response efforts. Now, CBS News reports, the job of inspecting, monitoring and assisting cruise ships with viral outbreaks such as Norovirus will be handled by 12 remaining U.S. Public Health Service officers.
New strain makes these cuts even worse
Not only is Norovirus running rampant in Florida and on cruise ships, but CBS News reports we’re also dealing with a new strain of the virus. Known as GII.17[P17], the newcomer was apparently responsible for about 70% of Norovirus cases this winter. Meanwhile, GII.4, the dominant strain responsible for the last decade of outbreaks, was only linked to about 7% of cases. The GII.17 strain also appears to be more contagious, as we only saw 18 outbreaks in all of 2024. A quarter of the way through 2025, we’ve seen at least 12, and staff were still dealing with two outbreaks when they were shown the door.
“Critical programs in the CDC will continue under Secretary Kennedy’s vision to streamline HHS to better serve Americans” is the official U.S. government line, but the people who actually still work at the CDC told CBS News the Vessel Sanitation Program was already short-staffed before the cuts. It’s hard to see how this won’t lead to fewer inspections and investigations.
“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,” Erik Svendsen, head of the CDC’s Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, told CBS News. Well, at least that was his job until Kennedy eliminated that division, as well. It had been responsible for overseeing the Vessel Sanitation Program, as well as a team of lead-poisoning experts who have also been fired.
Taxpayers won’t benefit in any way
If you’re thinking, “Yeah, but at least firing all those public health officials will save taxpayers money, even if it means more diarrhea and vomit all over those cruise ships,” you have some messed-up priorities, but you’re also wrong. The Vessel Sanitation Program wasn’t funded with taxpayer dollars; instead, CBS News reports, cruise lines paid fees that funded the axed program.
“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,” one unnamed CDC official told CBS News.
If you have a cruise planned this summer, there may still be time to cancel and instead book a stay at an all-inclusive resort. These, in addition to being less likely to get you sick, are also generally located on land and therefore won’t tip over on you.
