The Trump administration is now racing to rehire Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees who were recently dismissed as part of the president’s initiative to reduce the size of the federal workforce during the ongoing government shutdown.
According to the Washington Post, the layoffs — which affected over 4,000 government workers — included key CDC personnel involved in fighting major public health threats such as measles and Ebola.
Following reports from The New York Times and other outlets highlighting the CDC firings, a federal health official admitted that many of the terminated staff had been let go “in error” and would be reinstated. The source, who spoke anonymously to the Times, confirmed that plans were already in motion to bring back those employees.
Among those dismissed were reportedly the “top two leaders of the federal measles response team,” even as the country faces a worsening measles outbreak. The Times detailed that the CDC’s downsizing has had broad impacts on essential public health operations.
According to the report, the cuts affected:
- · Teams responding to Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- · Units responsible for infectious disease surveillance.
- · Senior officials overseeing immunization and respiratory disease programs.
- · Members of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service — known as “disease detectives.”
- · Personnel who compile the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
- · Staff at the agency’s forecasting center, where a division focused on technology and innovation was dissolved.
“This is going to be devastating to Americans and to the global community,” said Dr. Debra Houry, the CDC’s former chief medical officer, who resigned in August to protest the administration’s public health policies. She accused the Trump administration of “dismantling public health.”
“When you’re taking out the ability to respond to outbreaks like this, people’s lives are in jeopardy,” she added.
Officials familiar with the matter told the Times that several employees tied to the MMWR publication were mistakenly terminated due to a “misclassification” of job codes, and that these workers would soon be reinstated. The source also said staff focused on measles and Ebola prevention efforts would return to duty.
The number of rehired CDC employees could reach into the hundreds, though no official timeline has been provided for when those individuals will resume work.
Throughout his second term, President Trump and his Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have repeatedly expressed skepticism toward the CDC’s work. Kennedy, who was a vocal critic of vaccines long before joining the administration, has made sweeping internal changes to the agency’s structure.
After a gunman opened fire at the CDC’s Atlanta headquarters in protest of the COVID-19 vaccine — which Kennedy had previously condemned — Trump remained silent. Since taking over HHS, Kennedy dismissed the CDC’s 17-member vaccine advisory board, replacing them with individuals aligned with his vaccine stance. That same month, Kennedy also removed CDC Director Susan Monarez.
Monarez later stated she was fired because she “refused to rubber stamp Kennedy’s vaccine policies without first seeking scientific review of his ideas.”
This isn’t the first time the Trump administration’s aggressive cost-cutting has affected global health initiatives. During his earlier tenure, when Tesla CEO Elon Musk led the Department of Government Efficiency, several USAID staff members involved in Ebola prevention efforts were mistakenly terminated — another episode critics point to as evidence of the administration’s disregard for public health infrastructure.
