Department of Health and Human Services officials expected most of the agency's roughly 5,200 probationary employees to be fired Friday under the Trump administration’s move to get rid of nearly all probationary employees, according to an audio recording of a National Institutes of Health department meeting.
In that meeting, an NIH office director told employees that some probationary staff with specialized skills might be spared. Terminated staff were to receive emails Friday afternoon, according to audio shared with The Associated Press.
The cuts included nearly 1,300 probationary employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — roughly one-tenth of the agency's workforce.
The Atlanta-based agency's leadership was notified of the decision Friday morning. The verbal notice came from HHS officials in a meeting with CDC leaders, according to a federal official who was at the meeting. The official was not authorized to discuss it and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Some portion of the affected employees were supposed to receive four weeks paid administrative leave, according to the federal official and the recording.
HHS officials did not answer questions about the specifics of the layoffs. In an emailed statement, Andrew Nixon, the department's director of communications, wrote: “HHS is following the Administration’s guidance and taking action to support the President’s broader efforts to restructure and streamline the federal government. This is to ensure that HHS better serves the American people at the highest and most efficient standard."
HHS employs more than 80,000 people and runs 13 supporting agencies. Besides the CDC, they include the NIH and the Food and Drug Administration. The department also provides health coverage for nearly half the country through Medicare and Medicaid.
Its staff includes scientists, researchers, doctors and other officials. It oversees research of vaccines, diseases and cures. It regulates the medications found in medicine cabinets and inspects the foods that end up in cupboards.
With a $9.2 billion core budget, the CDC is charged with protecting Americans from outbreaks and other public health threats. Before the cuts, the agency had about 13,000 employees, including more than 2,000 staff working in other countries.
Historically CDC has been seen as a global leader on disease control and a reliable source of health information, boasting some of the top experts in the world. The staff is heavy with scientists — 60% have master’s degrees or doctorates.
Those being fired included all first-year officers — about 50 in total — in the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, according to two agency employees who communicated with some of the affected staffers. The two spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
The EIS, as it is known, was established in 1951 to recruit young doctors and researchers to join the agency for two-year stints as disease investigators. The laid-off first-year officers represent a little less than half the service's current staff.
EIS officers often are sent to different states and countries to become primary investigators of outbreaks and emerging health dangers. Many EIS graduates have gone on to leadership jobs at CDC and at other public health organizations.
It’s not only new employees who are subject to probation. Probationary periods also are applied to veteran staffers who, for example, were recently promoted to a new job in management.
Dr. Joshua Barocas, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said many of the probationary CDC employees are filling vital roles.
“It’s essentially assuming that they are not in a job that is crucial for the success of keeping everyone safe — just because they’ve been there for less than a year or less than six months,” said Barocas, speaking Friday morning during an Infectious Diseases Society of America call with reporters.
“That sort of slash-and-burn approach is what will cause continued disruptions in our understanding of diseases” and disease outbreaks, he said.
The layoffs are part of a broad effort by President Donald Trump and billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk to reduce the number of workers across the entire federal government. The job cuts also came one day after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in to oversee HHS.
In a Thursday interview on Fox News, Kennedy was asked if half the HHS staff would be losing their jobs.
“I don’t know anything about 50% of people being cut,” Kennedy said. “I would be surprised if there were 50% cuts.”
He added: “If you’ve been involved in good science, you have nothing to worry about. If you care about public health, you have nothing to worry about. If you’re in there working for the pharmaceutical industry, I’d say you should move out and work for the pharmaceutical industry.”
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is shown Sunday, March 15, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)
