Layoffs of hundreds of CDC employees reportedly reversed | Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Layoffs of hundreds of Centers for Disease Control (CDC) employees have been reversed, according to multiple 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 due to the current government shutdown, reductions in force (RIF) across all agencies have begun.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which houses the CDC, initially said that all employees who received layoff notices “had been designated as nonessential by their respective divisions.”

However, over the weekend, the administration rescinded more than half of the 1,300 layoff notices it had sent to CDC public health officials, according to Axios and Reuters, citing close sources. About 600 people at the agency remain laid off.

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 highly respected scientific journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, were among the reinstated employees.

Initially, about 70 EIS members were fired, according to the Times report. Athalia Christie and Maureen Bartee, who are leading the federal response to the measles outbreak, were also affected. The Times reported that the two infectious disease experts were fired, only to receive an email saying their firings “around October 10” were reversed the next day.

A senior administration official told the Times that erroneously fired workers “received incorrect notices,” adding that “any corrections have already been corrected.”

A federal health official also told ABC News that the error was due to a “coding error.” Neither the White House nor HHS immediately responded to The Guardian’s requests for comment on the number of employees who have been recalled to duty.

“These layoffs are an attack on the health and lives of everyone in the United States,” said Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist and member of Defend Public Health, a network of volunteer experts working to challenge the Trump administration’s public health policies.

“Did they not care enough about who they were firing and what they had done before sending out termination letters? The recklessness and callousness with which this administration handles matters of life and death is unbelievable.”

AFGE filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, seeking to block layoffs at the agencies. In a court filing, the government said layoffs in the federal workforce would affect more than 4,000 employees. Later this week, a federal judge in San Francisco will hear arguments in the case.

The CDC has experienced significant upheaval 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 attacker had accused the Covid vaccine of making him depressed and suicidal.

Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr then fired recently appointed CDC Director Susan Monarez after serving less than a month in the role. Monarez’s firing became an acrimonious flashpoint within the agency. At a Senate committee hearing, Monzarez said Kennedy fired her for not complying with his vaccination program, adding that the health secretary called the CDC “the most corrupt federal agency in the world.”

After his dismissal, several public health officials left the agency to protest political interference in their work. Debra Houry, the CDC’s former chief medical officer, said Kennedy “censored CDC science, politicized its processes, and stripped leadership of their independence” during a speech alongside Monarez on Capitol Hill last month.

“Think about what it’s like to be at the CDC. It’s like living with an abusive partner who attacks and then resumes some of the abuse. It doesn’t make the partner any less abusive. Sending force to CDC staff being held hostage,” said Demeter Daskalakis, who served as director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases and was part of the wave of CDC leadership resignations earlier this year.

“The damage to the CDC is done. Layoffs canceled or not. The health security of the United States is compromised,” he added.