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131 signatures toward our 30,000 goal

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—the agency responsible for tracking outbreaks, monitoring chronic disease, and guiding vaccine safety—has been stripped of its strength. More than 1,000 scientists, researchers, and analysts were told their jobs were gone as the administration carried out mass layoffs amid the government shutdown¹. Critical divisions for respiratory illnesses, chronic disease, and global health were gutted overnight. The offices that coordinate with Congress and process injury prevention grants were also targeted². In a single week, America’s public health defenses were left fractured and confused.

Some firings were later reversed, but the damage runs deep. Key surveillance units—such as the Epidemic Intelligence Service, known as the nation’s “disease detectives”—briefly vanished from operation before being reinstated². The staff of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which publishes health alerts and outbreak data, also faced abrupt dismissals and rescissions. These reversals did not fix the chaos. As one senior official warned, the CDC is “not functional” and cannot carry out its mission without trained staff, stable leadership, and scientific independence¹.

Every Community Depends on the CDC

The CDC’s reach extends far beyond infectious disease. Its data guide cancer screening programs, shape vaccine policy, and identify environmental risks linked to respiratory and heart disease. When the agency cannot collect or interpret that data, doctors, clinics, and state health departments lose the insight they need to save lives. Cuts to the National Center for Health Statistics and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey mean fewer tools to track long-term trends that prevent illness before it strikes².

For cancer patients, transplant recipients, and others with weakened immune systems, the loss of a fully functioning CDC means exposure to preventable infection. When outbreaks go undetected or vaccine schedules shift without evidence, those who depend on precise, timely guidance suffer the most.

Science Silenced, Lives at Risk

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired career experts, replaced scientific advisers with vaccine skeptics, and dismissed those who refused to sign off on policy changes that ignored data³. The agency’s leadership ranks have been hollowed out, with few public health professionals remaining to shape CDC recommendations. What was once the world’s gold standard in disease prevention now struggles to publish even basic safety alerts.

Unions representing federal workers call these cuts illegal and “callous,” warning that layoffs are being used as political leverage in the shutdown fight. Former officials say the agency is compromised and unable to meet its mandate to protect Americans from outbreaks and chronic disease⁴.

Restore the CDC, Protect America’s Health

The United States cannot face another flu season—or another pandemic—with a crippled CDC. Restoring the agency to its 2020 capacity means rehiring experienced scientists, rebuilding lost programs, and guaranteeing independence from political influence. Public health should never be a partisan weapon. It is a matter of survival.

Every family, hospital, and community depends on the CDC’s ability to track threats before they spread. Without it, preventable diseases will claim more lives, hospitals will overflow, and national health preparedness will collapse. The time to act is now.

Sign the petition calling on President Donald Trump, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and HHS leadership to fully reinstate the CDC to its 2020 strength. Protect the agency that protects us all.