Public Health — News & Analysis

HHS gutted: 20,000 jobs cut across CDC, NIH, FDA, and CMS (April 1, 2025)

April 1, 2025 — Thousands of federal health workers received 5 a.m. email notifications placing them on administrative leave with immediate building access revocation, as the Trump administration carried out the largest single-day health agency layoff in American history. More than 7,000 workers across the CDC, NIH, FDA, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services were dismissed as part of a broader HHS restructuring announced the previous week that would cut the department's workforce from 82,000 to 62,000 — a reduction of nearly 25 percent.

The CDC alone lost approximately 2,400 workers, including staff in HIV/AIDS programs, tuberculosis response, environmental health, gun violence research, global disease surveillance, and communications. The FDA saw 3,500 cuts; the NIH lost approximately 1,200. The restructuring also moved the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) — which manages medical responses to disasters and public health emergencies — from reporting directly to the HHS secretary to being subordinated under the CDC, a move former officials warned would diminish its authority and responsiveness.

RFK Jr. framed the cuts as eliminating "extraordinary waste" identified by DOGE. Public health experts and former officials called them a deliberate dismantling of the nation's disease-response infrastructure. Hundreds of employees lined up outside HHS headquarters to process their terminations. In June 2025, following public backlash, approximately 450 CDC workers in critical divisions including lead poisoning prevention and air quality monitoring had their layoff notices rescinded and were reinstated.