National Nurses United

UNDER SIEGE The country's entire public health infrastructure is under attack. What nurses must know and do to fight back. BY CHULEENAN SVETVILAS AND JANE THOMASON Proposed 55% cut to EPA Is a Wrecking Ball that Endangers the Air We Breathe and the Water We Drink " W e know that health is not just about medical treatment. It's also about the world that we live in and the support systems we all rely on," said Cathy Kennedy, RN and a president of National Nurses United (NNU) at the "Hands Off!" mass mobilization event in Washington, D.C. on April 5. "Those include Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Vet- erans Affairs Administration." All those systems and many more have had thousands of federal workers fired and programs slashed by the current administration, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Environ- mental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to name a few. Weakened regulatory oversight and funding cuts will result in increased community and work exposure to environmental pollutants, unsafe food and pro- ducts, infectious disease outbreaks, and inadequate disaster response. The mass layoffs of federal employees have been unprecedented, devastating, and chaotic but it is the cuts to HHS that are extremely alarming to nurses and other health care workers. To begin with, HHS is headed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose nomination NNU strongly opposed, stating that he "would be one of the most dangerous individ- uals to ever hold the top U.S. health care office … given his longtime opposition to lifesaving vaccines and his willingness to spread medical disinformation and unfounded health care conspiracy theories." HHS includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the FDA, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As of May, about 20,000 HHS employees have had their jobs cut or accepted buyouts. These devastating losses threaten the health and safety of patients, nurses, and other health care workers. To make matters even worse, Republicans in Congress are proposing almost $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid, which provides health care to nearly 1 in 5 Americans. This immoral proposal would deprive low-income, disabled, pregnant, senior, and pediatric patients of health care in favor of funding tax cuts for billionaires and corporations. NNU has been speaking out against these cuts, holding rallies, and lobbying members of Congress. This intentional destruction of critical public health care staffing, resources, and infrastructure will have long-lasting and deadly con- sequences if we do not fight back. What follows is a brief overview of what is happening to our national public health infrastructure and what nurses can do to mobilize and protect our patients and ourselves. T he cdc has saved countless lives through its work monitoring, preventing, and responding to infectious disease outbreaks. As of this writing, the CDC has lost 2,400 staffers, or about 18 per- cent of its total staff, to reductions in force. Vital programs have been shut down, public communications have been frozen, impor- tant data is no longer being collected, and grants that fund essential infectious disease programs were eliminated. These cuts severely undermine the CDC's ability to prevent infectious disease outbreaks and protect Americans' health. On June 9, HHS Secretary Kennedy fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which determines vaccine policy and sets national immunization sched- ules. "A clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science," stated Kennedy in a press release. A few days later, he appointed eight people to ACIP, including well-known critics of vaccines and people who have little vaccine expertise. ACIP was supposed to vote on updated Covid vaccine recom- mendations toward the end of June, but the vote was removed from the agenda. NNU submitted comments to ACIP members in advance of the meeting, urging "all new ACIP members to uphold the committee's legacy and commitment to science and to ensure continued access to vaccines, including ensuring that Covid-19 vac- cines—which have been proven to be safe and effective—remain available and accessible to RNs, other health care workers, and patients of all ages." Without a recommendation from ACIP, the latest Covid vaccine may not be available or accessible to everyone. The FDA granted limited approval to Moderna and Novavax's updated Covid vaccines. 22 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G A P R I L | M AY | J U N E 2 0 2 5 Trump administration has shut down CDC's infection control committee Health secretary RFK Jr. abruptly fires CDC vaccine advisory panel NIH scientists speak out over estimated $12 billion in Trump funding cuts Largest Medicaid Cut in U.S. History Would Leave Millions Vulnerable FDA food inspector vacancies near 20% after Trump hiring freeze Trump's Budget Cuts Funding for Chronic Disease Prevention Worker safety agency NIOSH lays off most remaining staff RFK Jr. says U.S. will stop funding global vaccine group over 'vaccine safety' issues

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