The CDC Has Been Gutted

Below is running list of Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) offices that have either been fully eliminated or gutted into non-functionality as a result of today’s mass firings.

Wired [no paywall]: “Thousands of CDC employees who worked on things like preventing HIV and lead poisoning have been told they were subject to a reduction in force. Experts say people will die. Thousands of federal employees at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were notified early Tuesday morning that they were subject to a reduction in force, or RIF, sources tell WIRED, shuttering programs that directly serve and inform the American public. The effect was felt across the CDC, as workers in the Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice (DEHSP), the Division of Population Health, the Division of HIV Prevention, the Division of Reproductive Health, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control all received RIF notices today. Dozens of other programs throughout the CDC’s national centers for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention; Environmental Health; Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; and the Global Health center were also impacted. “I regret to inform you that you are being affected by a reduction in force (RIF) action,” reads the email to affected employees. “This RIF does not reflect directly on your service, performance, or conduct. It is being taken solely for the reasons stated in the memorandum. After you receive this notice you will be placed on administrative leave and will no longer have building access beginning Tuesday, April 1, unless directed otherwise by your leadership.” The memorandum refers to the February 11 executive order from President Donald Trump titled “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative.” “The cuts today at CDC targeted programs that address all aspects of American lives,” a source at the CDC tells WIRED. “This will lead to worse health outcomes, greater risks to the US public, and will contribute to the decline in US life expectancy … programs that were eliminated fund positions across the country, in red and blue districts.”

These cuts will have immediate impact, experts say. At the Division for HIV Prevention, where the stated mission is “to promote health and quality of life by preventing HIV infection and reducing HIV-related illness and death in the United States,” at least half of the employees received RIF notices. “We’re going to have patients die,” says Jade Pagkas-Bather, an infectious disease doctor at the University of Chicago who also specializes in HIV prevention. “Unnecessary, preventable death.” Joseph Cherabie, a physician and assistant professor in the division of infectious diseases at Washington University in St. Louis, says that these cuts will have devastating consequences for HIV patients around the country, especially in rural areas: “It will be catastrophic.”..