The firings of hundreds of employees at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have been reversed, according to several reports citing officials familiar with the matter, and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union representing federal workers.
On Friday, the White House budget office announced that as a result of the ongoing government shutdown, reductions in force (RIFs) across agencies have begun.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which houses the CDC, initially said that all employees that received layoff notices “were designated non-essential by their respective divisions”.
However, over the weekend, the administration rescinded more than half of the 1,300 termination notices it sent to public health officials at the CDC, according to Axios and Reuters, citing sources familiar. Around 600 people at the agency remain fired.
On Saturday, the New York Times reported that members of the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS), informally known as “disease detectives”, as well as the team that compiles the widely respected scientific journal, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, were among the employees reinstated.
Initially, around 70 members of EIS were laid off, according to the Times report. Also affected were Athalia Christie and Maureen Bartee, who are leading the federal response to the measles outbreak. The Times reported that the two infectious disease experts were laid off, only to receive an email saying that their firings “on or about” 10 October had been rescinded a day later.
A senior administration official told the Times that the mistakenly fired workers “were sent incorrect notifications”, adding that “any correction has already been remedied”.
A federal health official also told ABC News that the mistake was due to a “coding error”. Neither the White House nor HHS have immediately responded to the Guardian’s requests for comment about how many employees have been recalled to their roles.
“These firings are an assault on the health and lives of every person in the US,” said Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist and member of Defend Public Health, a volunteer network of experts who work to challenge the Trump administration’s public health policies.
“Did they not care enough to find out who they were firing and what they did before sending termination letters? The carelessness and callousness with which this administration handles life and death matters is unbelievable.”
The AFGE has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, seeking to block the firings across agencies. In a court filing, the government said that the layoffs across the federal workforce will impact over 4,000 employees. Later this week, a federal judge in San Francisco will hear arguments in the case.
The CDC has endured significant tumult in recent months. In August, a gunman targeted the agency’s headquarters in Atlanta, firing hundreds of bullets and killing a police officer in the attack. The perpetrator had blamed the Covid vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal.
Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr then fired the recently appointed CDC director, Susan Monarez, after she spent less than a month on the job. Monarez’s removal has become an acrimonious flash point at the agency. At a Senate committee hearing, Monzarez said that Kennedy fired her for not complying with his vaccine agenda, adding that the health secretary had called the CDC the “most corrupt federal agency in the world”.
Following her removal, several public health leaders left the agency in protest of political interference in their work. Debra Houry, the former chief medical officer at the CDC, said Kennedy “censored CDC science, politicized its processes and stripped leaders of independence” while speaking alongside Monarez on Capitol Hill last month.
“Think about what it’s like to be at CDC. It’s like living with an abusive partner that attacks and then takes back some of the abuse. That doesn’t make the partner less abusive. Sending strength to CDC staff held hostage,” said Demetre Daskalakis, who served as the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and was part of the wave of CDC leadership to resign earlier this year.
“CDC damage is done. Rescinded firings or not. US health security is compromised,” he added.
