1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

The recent actions taken by the Department of Government Efficiency to gut essential public health programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are deeply concerning. Laying off thousands of CDC staff working on critical initiatives related to injury prevention, violence prevention, reproductive health, chronic disease management, and other vital areas will severely undermine the agency's ability to protect public health and safety. These cuts threaten to dismantle decades of important work and data collection on issues like gun violence, sexual assault, opioid overdoses, and more. Without dedicated teams analyzing this data and developing evidence-based prevention strategies, we risk losing ground in addressing some of the most pressing public health challenges facing our nation. I urge you to reconsider these reckless personnel cuts and instead prioritize fully funding and staffing the CDC to allow it to effectively carry out its mission. Gutting the workforce will only serve to weaken our public health infrastructure and leave Americans more vulnerable to preventable threats. The CDC's work is vital to keeping our communities healthy and safe – we cannot afford to compromise that.