• Posted October 14, 2025

700+ CDC Layoffs Reversed Amid Backlash Over Cuts to Disease Response Teams

Layoff notices to some 740 workers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been rescinded.

While personnel leading the CDC’s response to U.S. measles outbreaks, suicide prevention and an overseas Ebola were spared, The Washington Post reports that fired officials included dozens responsible for safeguarding the nation from chemical, biological and nuclear threats.

In all, about 1,300 layoff notices were sent to CDC staffers late Friday as the Trump administration looked to slash costs during the ongoing federal government shutdown.

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the administration is closing "wasteful and duplicative entities" and returning the workforce to levels closer to the end of the first Trump administration.

HHS staffing grew from about 82,000 in 2020 to 92,000 last year, while the CDC grew from about 13,000 to 15,000.

HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said all employees receiving layoff notices were "designated non-essential by their respective divisions."

A former HHS official told The Post that those fired included workers with top-secret clearance who work at the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) with intelligence agencies on biodefense issues such as pandemics and weaponized pathogens.

Others at ASPR who got layoff notices included workers who helped coordinate biodefense drills and those who monitor data on infectious disease outbreaks, natural disasters and cyberattacks on hospitals for the main HHS operations center, according to that official and a senior U.S. health official.

The Post said Nixon would not answer questions about layoffs at individual offices across the health agencies.

The whiplash of the reduction in force, or RIF, was demoralizing, current and former CDC staff members said.

"The effect of the on-again, off-again RIF on the psyche of a traumatized organization is not inconsequential," said Demetre Daskalakis, one of three senior CDC leaders who quit earlier this year to protest what they called politicization of science at the agency. He was director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, whose top leaders were laid off then brought back.

Health groups condemned the mass firings and rehirings. 

"Did they really not know they were firing the people tracking Ebola? Did they not care enough to find out who they were firing and what they did before sending termination letters?" said Yale University epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves, a leader of Defend Public Health, a group of health care workers and public health researchers. 

The group said the firings add to previous CDC staff reductions and political interference that triggered resignations of experienced leaders.

"Uncertainty around which staff have been fired or rehired leaves health professionals and the public in a state of complete confusion about which longstanding public health services they can rely upon," said a statement issued jointly by health organizations, including the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Divisions at the CDC where staffers remain laid off include the Office of Science, which approves high-profile scientific publications including the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report; the human resources office, which vets conflicts of interest among agency officials and federal advisory committees, such as the vaccine advisory panel; and the Washington office, which briefs Congressmen.

The cuts spared several other large departments in HHS. Among them: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration which perform mandatory functions. Also spared: The National Institutes of Health.

The Post said several smaller health offices may also have been affected, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). SAMSA, which was hard hit during earlier Trump administration cuts, oversees billions of dollars in grants to address mental health and addiction issues. 

Dismissals also occurred at the Office of Community Services, which doles out federal aid to low-income Americans and communities. 

Some staffers many were locked out of their government computers because they had been furloughed and were unable to see if they still had jobs. One HHS staffer whose firing was rescinded said he was had a sense of whiplash.

"I felt some relief after being fired just to be done with the uncertainty," he told The Post. "I now feel relieved because I don’t have to contend with a terrible job market."

More information

Learn more about the priorities of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCE: The Washington Post, Oct. 13, 2025