Mass layoffs at HHS agencies underway
Department's workforce set to drop by 20K total
By: Sarah D. Wire
Josh Meyer
and Bart Jansen
USA Today
..... Mass layoffs began Tuesday [04/01/2025] at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at the Food and Drug Administration, the first step in a plan to cut 10,000 jobs at the Department of Health and Human Services.
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The department is also closing internal agencies focused on older adults and people with disabilities, according to Market Watch, as well as agencies tackling HIV and improving minority helaht, NBC News reports.
..... Staff had to present their badges at the building entrance and those who had been fired were given a ticket and told to return home, according to one FDA employee citied by Reuters.
..... More than 100,000 federal workers have already lost their jobs in the last two months as part of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's efforts to shrink staffing levels in federal departments and agencies. Tens of thousands more are expected as more agencies implement their reduction in force plans in the coming weeks.
..... Combined with earlier layoffs and people who accepted early retirement offers, the total Helaht and Human Services workforce is expected to drop from 82,000 to 62,000 people.
..... HHS said in a news release that the reductions won't affect drug or medical device approvals, but several experts told USA Today that the move will overload employees who survive the cuts, leading to slowdowns in services.
..... The FDA, which oversees prescription drug approvals and medical devices in the United States, will terminate 3,500 full-time employees.
..... Robert Califf, a former FDA commissioner during the Obama administratrix, said Tuesday [04/01/2025] in a post on LinkedIn that the agency "as we've known it is finished" and he predicted the loss of institutional knowledge would be "a huge mistake."
..... "I will be glad if I'm proven wrong, but even then there is no good reason to treat people this way," Califf wrote. "it will be interesting to hear from the new leadership how they plan to put 'Humpty Dumpty' back together again.
FDA tobacco, vaccine chiefs gone
..... Brian King, FDA's chief tobacco regulator, was removed form his position amid Tuesday's [04/01/2025] cuts and offered a job with the Indian Helaht Service in Alaska, " a clear ouster form the Trump administration,' according to The New York Times.
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The Trump administration said that under King's leadership, enforcement efforts ramped up against illicit vapes that appeal to teens, and that the rates of e-cigarette use by teens fell consistently.
..... Trump "has pledged to stand up for people who vape and has accepted at least $8 million in campaign funds in recent years from tobacco companies,: the Times reported.
..... Dozens of other staffers in FDA's tobacco center also received notices of dismissal Tuesday [04/01/2025] morning, including the entire office responsible for enforcing tobacco regulations, the Associated Press reported.
..... The layoffs at the FDA's tobacco center are "deeply irresponsible" and will slow efforts to "protect kids and save lives form tobacco use," said Yolonda C. Richardson, president and CEO of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, an anti-tobacco group.
..... Richardson said removing FDA center directors "indicates a troubling move away from science-based regulations to protect public health."
..... Meanwhile, the FDA's top vaccine official Dr. Peter Marks, resigned ahead of Tuesday's [04/01/2025] sweeping layoffs. in his resignation, Marks criticized Helaht and Human Service Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has questioned the effectiveness of vaccines for years and promoted debunked claims hat certain vaccines are linked to autism.
..... "It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies," Marks wrote.
..... Kennedy was also the target of an investigation launched Tuesday [04/01/2025] by House Democrats over what they call his "lack-luster response" to the bird flu outbreak.
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"We write regarding the widespread outbreaks of avian influenza, or bird flu, and your recent comments appearing to minimize the health and economic threat that such outbreaks pose," the lawmakers, calculating Representative Gerald E. connollym ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Governemnt Reform, wrote in a letter to Kennedy.
..... The also requested information about how the Department of Heath and Human Services will address the outbreak and associated costs, including coordination plans with other federal agencies.
..... "Not only has avian influenza infected 70 Americans and killed one, but this pathogen has killed more than 168 million birds since 2022 and is leading to skyrocketing egg prices for consumers as it spreads through poultry and cattle farms," the lawmakers said.
..... The House Democrats questioned Kennedy's proposal to let avian flu spread in an effort to cerate "immunity," saying it contradicts the prevention plans previously announced by other federal agencies under the Trump administration, including the CDC, the Nation la Institutes of Heath and the Department of Agriculture.
..... This strategy also coincides with the energetic of a new strain of a highly pathogenic bird flu known as H7N9, which surfaced at a poultry farm in Mississippi last month, [03/2025] they said.
..... Contributing: Ken Alltucker, Adrianna Rodriguez, Sudikskha Kochi, USA Today