This month, in a devastating blow to public health, sweeping federal layoffs gutted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control—a vital arm of the agency responsible for tracking and preventing some of the most common and deadly events in American life: car crashes, drownings, falls, child maltreatment, and traumatic brain injuries.
Over 200 positions were eliminated from this single center alone, decimating teams that have for decades quietly saved lives by monitoring injury trends, developing prevention strategies, and responding to emerging threats. These cuts were directed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as part of a broader restructuring at the Department of Health and Human Services. The impact will be profound—and deadly.
Let’s be clear: this isn’t about bureaucratic streamlining. It’s about dismantling public health infrastructure that protects children, families, and communities.
A Direct Hit to Child Safety
Gun violence is the leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States. Right behind it: car crashes, the second leading cause of death for children aged 1 to 12. The very CDC teams working to understand and prevent these tragedies have been laid off.
Staff were on the brink of launching a nationwide concussion tracking system, updating pediatric traumatic brain injury guidance. That work is now frozen.
Entire teams focused on child maltreatment and sexual violence prevention? Gone. The branch responsible for maintaining and analyzing national injury data? Gone.
We are watching the collapse of evidence-based prevention efforts in real time.
The recent mass layoffs at the CDC have seriously affected programs that help keep students and schools safe and healthy. Here’s what’s happened and what it means for school health, explained in plain language:
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Hundreds of CDC staff were laid off, including most of the experts who worked on preventing injuries and violence like car crashes, drownings, and gun violence. These are some of the main causes of death and injury for children and teens.
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Programs that support schools were directly impacted. The CDC used to help schools with things like hotlines for reporting school shootings, advice on car and booster seat safety, and guidance on preventing falls and injuries. The people who ran these programs and analyzed the data were let go.
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Gun violence research and prevention took a major hit. Most of the staff at the CDC’s Injury Center and its Division of Violence Prevention lost their jobs. This means there will be less research on school shootings and fewer resources for programs that help stop violence in schools.
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Anonymous tip lines that saved lives are now at risk. For example, in North Carolina, a CDC-funded project found that anonymous reporting in schools led to over 1,000 mental health interventions, prevented more than 100 suicides, and stopped 38 acts of school violence. With the layoffs, it’s unclear if these programs will keep getting support.
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Data and guidance for schools may disappear. The CDC’s guidance pages, which millions of people use each year, might not be updated anymore. Without CDC experts, schools and local health departments may not get the latest advice on keeping students safe from injuries, violence, or disease outbreaks.
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There are ripple effects on mental health and chronic disease. The layoffs also affected staff who worked on asthma, mental health, and chronic diseases—issues that are common among school-aged children and can affect attendance and learning.
What this means for school health:
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Schools may lose access to up-to-date, science-based advice on preventing injuries and violence.
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Programs that help prevent shootings, suicides, and other emergencies may struggle or end.
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Local health officials will have a harder time getting the data they need to make informed decisions.
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The safety net that helps protect students from accidents, violence, and illness is now much weaker.
The CDC layoffs have left schools with fewer resources to keep students safe and healthy, and have made it harder for communities to prevent tragedies before they happen.
We Will Not Know What Is Killing Us
Among the most devastating losses is the shutdown of the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), which for nearly 50 years tracked non-fatal injuries from over 100 hospitals nationwide, offering real-time insight into poisonings, car crashes, falls, and more. It was the only system of its kind in the federal government.
Now? That data is no longer being collected. There is no backup system. There is no contingency plan.
As Christen Rexing, executive director of the Society for Advancement of Violence and Injury Research, put it bluntly:
“We will not know what is killing us—and that’s very scary.”
The Loss Is Bigger Than a Layoff
This isn’t just about lost jobs. It’s about erased expertise, the end of vital collaborations with state and local health departments, and the silencing of decades-long research initiatives. And while a few programs, such as overdose and suicide prevention, were spared, those teams now lack the analytic and technical support needed to function.
As Sharon Gilmartin of the Safe States Alliance said:
“There’s a direct line between federal employees and the states and communities they serve. We’ve severed that.”
What We Lose: A Public Health System that Could See Us Coming
Injury is the leading cause of death for Americans under 45. Gun violence now tops the list for children and teens. We had a system to track these threats. We had scientists to respond. With one sweeping directive, that scaffolding is gone.
We are now operating without the data, tools, or personnel to prevent the next wave of child deaths from gun violence, car crashes, or climate-related disasters.
🔊 Take Action: What You Can Do Right Now
This is a moment that demands more than concern—it demands action. Here’s how you can help:
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Contact Your Representatives
Demand congressional oversight and the restoration of injury prevention staffing and infrastructure at the CDC. Find your elected officials here:
👉 https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
👉 https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm -
Support Advocacy Organizations
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Write an Op-Ed or Letter to the Editor
Your voice as a school nurse, teacher, parent, or concerned citizen matters. Local papers, national outlets, and public health blogs are powerful platforms. -
Stay Informed and Mobilized
Follow updates and action alerts from trusted sources like the American Public Health Association.
🛑 This Is Not Just a Policy Shift—It’s a Public Health Emergency
We owe it to our children, seniors, and communities to speak out. We owe it to decades of progress in injury prevention not to let it vanish quietly.
We cannot build a safer future without the people and tools that help us understand the risks we face. Now is the time to show up, speak out, and fight for the future of public health.
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