Public Health Experts React to CDC STI Lab Closure, HHS Funding And Staff Cuts

For Immediate Release: April 4, 2025

Contact: Elizabeth Finley, [email protected], 919-749-7309

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Earlier this week, HHS began enacting a reorganization plan that severely cuts HHS agencies and staffing, including core programs for STI prevention. In response to the latest $2.9 billion cuts to the CDC, David C. Harvey, Executive Director of the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD) issued the following statement:

“It’s been an incredibly troubling week for America’s public health – from immense funding cuts at the CDC to reorganization and mass layoffs of critical workers at key public health agencies.

We are especially alarmed about the closure of CDC laboratories for sexually transmitted infections and hepatitis, which make an enormous difference in the health of American’s lives and are critical to the future of our nation’s public health. These highly specialized and technical STI labs at CDC are an essential backbone tool that states and communities use to identify infections, monitor antibiotic resistance and detect unusual outbreaks. The cuts and layoffs already in place are putting a strain on these and other laboratories at CDC, which are essential to our public health system.

We urge Secretary Kennedy the administration to reconsider cuts to the CDC, restore critical public health funding, and reinstate these labs and staff in the CDC’s STD division, which are responsible for protecting the public against STIs and other infectious diseases,” said David C. Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD).

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