More than 1,300 staffers at the health agency got notices they were fired — but more than half were reinstated. The cuts will hobble some divisions, employees say.
Around 600 workers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were cut over the long weekend, as part of a wider push by the Trump Administration to slash the size of the federal workforce during the government shutdown.
It was not a smooth process. On Friday, more than 1,300 CDC employees were notified that they had lost their jobs. Many of them were furloughed because of the shutdown, and found out only after Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, posted on X that « the RIFs have begun. »
The next day, around 700 employees got emails revoking these reduction in force notices, according to numbers compiled by the National Public Health Coalition, a group of former CDC employees.
Aryn Melton Backus, a health communication specialist with the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health who has been on administrative leave for months, was one of them. It was the third time this year she’s received a termination notice.
« We have no idea why certain programs were eliminated and others were saved », Backus said in a press conference held Tuesday by NPHC. « At this point, it seems like the chaos and lack of transparency is the point. »
In a Tuesday court filing, the Department of Health and Human Services attributed some of the firings and rapid rescindments to « data discrepancies and processing errors. »
When the dust settled, around 600 CDC staffers were cut over the weekend, according to the former CDC employee group and AFGE Local 2883, a union that represents CDC workers.
Those fired include CDC staff who brief Congress, those working on health statistics and chronic disease.
