NEW YORK (AP) — More than 460 laid-off employees at the nation's top public health agency received notices Wednesday that they are being reinstated, according to a union representing the workers.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed reinstatement notices went out to the former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees, but provided few details.
About 2,400 CDC employees lost their jobs in a wave of cuts across federal health agencies in early April, according to a tally at the time.
Whole CDC programs were essentially shut down, including some focused on smoking, lead poisoning, gun violence, asthma and air quality, and workplace safety and health. The entire office that handles Freedom of Information Act requests was shuttered. Infectious disease programs took a hit, too, including programs that fight outbreaks in other countries, labs focused on HIV and hepatitis in the U.S., and staff trying to eliminate tuberculosis.
An estimated 200 of the reinstated workers are based in the CDC's National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention, HHS officials confirmed. Staffers at a CDC lab that does testing for sexually transmitted diseases are being brought back, said one CDC employee who wasn't authorized to discuss what happened and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Also reinstated are an estimated 150 employees at the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, including people staffing a lab that works on lead poisoning, according to the union and employees.
Layoffs at federal agencies were challenged in lawsuits, with judges in some cases ordering federal agencies to halt terminations of employees.
Officials at HHS have never detailed how they made the layoff decisions in the first place. And they did not answer questions about why the notices went out, or how decisions were made about who to bring back.
HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the agency was streamlining operations and that “the nation’s critical public health functions remain intact and effective.”
"The Trump Administration is committed to protecting essential services — whether it’s supporting coal miners and firefighters through NIOSH, safeguarding public health through lead prevention, or researching and tracking the most prevalent communicable diseases,” he said.
The reinstatements don't undo the damage being done by Kennedy and the Trump administration to federal public health, said members of Fired But Fighting, a group of affected CDC workers who have helped organize rallies in Atlanta. The most recent was in the rain on Tuesday, at which some attendees called for Kennedy to resign.
“Bringing a few hundred people back to work out of thousands fired is a start, but there are still countless programs at CDC that have been cut, which will lead to increased disease and death,” one of the group's founding members, Abby Tighe, said in a statement.
This is not the first time that employees at the Atlanta-based agency were told they were being terminated only to then be told to come back. After an earlier round of termination notices went out in February, about 180 CDC employees in March were told to come back.
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Anna Yousaf speaks at a demonstration protesting President Donald Trump's proposed cuts to health services outside Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
Michael Beach protests President Donald Trump's proposed cuts to health services outside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
FILE - A sign stands at an entrance to the main campus of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy, File)
NAHARIYA, Israel (AP) — Israel’s government is objecting to the White House announcement of leaders who will play a role in overseeing next steps in Gaza as the ceasefire moves into its challenging second phase.
The rare criticism from Israel of its close ally in Washington said the Gaza executive committee “was not coordinated with Israel and is contrary to its policy,” without details. Saturday's statement also said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the foreign ministry to contact Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The committee announced by the White House on Friday includes no Israeli official but has an Israeli businessman, billionaire Yakir Gabay. Other members announced so far include two of U.S. President Donald Trump’s closest confidants, a former British prime minister, a U.S. general and representatives of several Middle Eastern governments.
The White House has said the executive committee will carry out the vision of a Trump-led “Board of Peace,” whose members have not yet been named. The White House also announced the members of a new Palestinian committee to run Gaza’s day to day affairs, with oversight from the executive committee. The Palestinian committee met for the first time on Thursday in Cairo.
The executive committee’s members include Rubio, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, World Bank President Ajay Banga and Trump’s Deputy National Security Adviser Robert Gabriel.
Committee members also include a diplomat from Qatar, an intelligence chief from Egypt and Turkey’s foreign minister — all countries have been ceasefire mediators — as well as a Cabinet minister for the United Arab Emirates.
Turkey has a strained relationship with Israel but good relations with Hamas and could play an important role in persuading the group to yield power and disarm. Hamas has said it will dissolve its government in Gaza once the new Palestinian committee takes office, but it has shown no sign that it will dismantle its military wing or security forces.
Netanyahu's office didn't respond Saturday to questions about its objections regarding the executive committee.
Minutes after its statement, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in a statement backed Netanyahu and urged him to order the military to prepare to return to war. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, another far-right Netanyahu ally, said on social media that “the countries that kept Hamas alive cannot be the ones that replace it."
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Gaza’s second-largest militant group after Hamas, in a statement Saturday also expressed dissatisfaction with the makeup of the Gaza executive committee and claimed it reflected Israeli “specifications.”
The Trump administration on Wednesday said the U.S.-drafted ceasefire plan for Gaza was now moving into its second phase, which includes the new Palestinian committee in Gaza, deployment of an international security force, disarmament of Hamas and reconstruction of the war-battered territory.
The ceasefire in the deadliest war ever fought between Israel and Hamas took effect on Oct. 10. The first phase focused on the return of all remaining hostages in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian detainees, along with a surge in humanitarian aid and a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces in Gaza.
The war began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took over 250 hostage. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 71,400 Palestinians, including over 460 since this ceasefire began, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.
Associated Press writer Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed.
Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Displaced Palestinian Amr Al-Manaya, 35, sits by the fire with his children, Muhammad and Hala, next to their tent in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A displaced Palestinian boy runs past empty water barrels as residents wait for a drinking water delivery in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Displaced Palestinians gather outside a tent at a temporary camp in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Displaced Palestinian Amr Al-Manaya, 35, sits by the fire with his children, next to their tent in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
