With CDC injury prevention team gutted, 'we will not know what is killing us'

(NPR) Before they were fired, staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were about to launch a new data system to improve how the U.S. tracks concussions.

They were planning to release updated guidance on diagnosing traumatic brain injury in children and publish new findings on drownings after natural disasters. They were combing the web for data on suicides to forecast trends and studying changes in how people are injured during car crashes.

All of this came to a halt when health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directed sweeping layoffs to the Department of Health and Human Services this month.

Much of the federal workforce focused on injury and violence prevention was cut, according to researchers, advocates and five former employees whose jobs were eliminated.

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/04/21/nx-s1-5371519/cdc-hhs-injury-prevention-federal-layoffs