When Public Health Is Torn Apart

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was hit with another round of deep layoffs last Friday, October 10. Around 1,300 employees initially received reduction-in-force notices on Friday night before about 700 of those terminations were rescinded the next day.

What Have We Lost?

That leaves around 600 terminated employees. Among those terminated are:

• The entire Washington, D.C., CDC office, which serves as the direct link between Congress and CDC. They respond to congressional briefings and inquires, shaping the country’s public health policy.
• All CDC library staff, who conduct massive literature searches for scientists working on systematic reviews, provide free access to scientific journals, and more to keep research running smoothly.
• The Office of Safety, Security, and Asset Management, which keeps CDC employees safe and healthy—from providing proper PPE for outbreak investigations to overseeing safety and security during August’s attack on CDC’s Atlanta campus.
• The team that plans the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), our most important source of information about the state of health in the U.S. Data from this survey are used by public health researchers across the country and inform health policy decisions.
• Some staff responsible for critical research and communication about suicide, smoking, prion diseases, diabetes, infectious disease monitoring, and more.

These terminations, and cuts earlier in the year, slow the flow of information and stunt the CDC’s capacity to respond to critical health emergencies. People and communities will feel the effects of a crippled public health workforce in different ways, such as when decreased monitoring of foodborne illnesses let them spread further, or when we next face a new infectious disease threat and cannot turn to experts to protect us.

“Despite what their reduction-in-force notices may have said, all of these workers are essential to our nation’s health,” says Rollins Dean Dani Fallin, PhD. “These areas serve core functions for our nation that allow us to accurately track disease, prevent death, inform Congress about the latest science, and effectively maintain CDC operations.”

Why Is This Happening?

These are only the latest in a string of cuts that have decimated the federal public health workforce since the start of the year. Between reduction-in-force terminations and voluntary separations, CDC has lost about one-third of its employees in 2025.

A Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) fact sheet from March laid out plans to cut 2,400 employees from the CDC. After last weekend, the current number is closer to 3,000. The same fact sheet, and its accompanying press release, state that these cuts in combination with restructuring within HHS will let CDC return “to its core mission of preparing for and responding to epidemics and outbreaks.”

But responding efficiently and effectively to outbreaks requires peoplepower. Already, in April, one-fourth of the staff from the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention were fired, hindering our ability to respond to some of the most concerning infectious diseases. Cuts over the weekend to the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics also hurt efforts to predict and prevent future outbreaks. 

“This continued weakening of the country’s public health infrastructure is harmful not only to morale in our field, but also to our nation’s standing as a leader in public health innovation, to the health of our country, and to people all over the world that benefit from CDC discoveries and expertise,” says Fallin.

What Comes Next?

The Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) is the proposed new agency that would, in theory, absorb some of CDC’s current work related to chronic disease, maternal and child health, mental health, and environmental health. It is included in the budget for fiscal year 2026, which, as we know, is not yet approved.

This year, the U.S. has lost thousands of lifelong civil servants through reductions in force across HHS. These were dedicated scientists and public health experts with deep expertise, who in some case had spent decades protecting American health. In their absence, who will lead AHA? The answer remains to be seen.