The CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program full-time staff has been laid off.
The VSP was established in 1975 to work with the cruise industry to protect travelers health.
It is wholly funded by the cruise industry.
Aerial view of a cruise ship sailing near Dubrovnik-Neretva, Croatia.Credit:Holger Leue/Getty Images
Cruise lines participate on a voluntary basis.
The VSPs website currently reports12 outbreaksin 2025 thus far, with all but two of them norovirus.
In 2024, there were18 outbreaks.
Although the full-time employees have been cut, 12 U.S. Public Health Service officers remain.
The industry wants (the VSP), and they will fight to keep it.
Theaverage ratingfor the past 24 years has been 95.95, according to CLIA.