CNN —
A massive wave of job cuts began at US health agencies early Tuesday, with some employees receiving early morning emails that their jobs were eliminated and some unable to access the building when they arrived at work.
It was not immediately clear how many employees had received notice Tuesday morning. CNN has reached out the US Department of Health and Human Services for comment.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said last week that 10,000 full-time employees would be cut on top of thousands who had already left and probationary employees currently on leave. He said the changes would make fighting chronic disease the priority and reduce “bureaucratic sprawl.” Kennedy promised the department would do more with less.
On Tuesday, job cuts were sweeping across offices at multiple agencies, hitting leadership, longtime staffers, scientists and administrators.
“It’s a bloodbath,” one US Food and Drug Administration employee said.
Cuts at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention slashed the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the Office of Smoking and Health, Violence Prevention division and HIV offices, among others.
“This [reduction in force] action does not reflect directly on your service, performance or conduct,” according to one email to a CDC staff member that was obtained by CNN. The email, sent by Thomas J. Nagy Jr., deputy assistant secretary for human resources at HHS, said the person would be placed on administrative leave and would no longer have access to building as of Tuesday.
At the FDA, staffers in the Office of New Drugs, Office of Policy & International Engagement and Office of Regulatory Programs were among those receiving notice.
The Center for Mental Health Services at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration also experienced cuts.
Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was among those cut, according to a source familiar with the changes inside the National Institutes of Health.
Employees had been anxiously waiting to learn about their futures after weeks of worry and last week’s announcement about a total reduction of nearly 20,000 jobs. A senior official at CDC said Tuesday, “What is really galling and hard is that supervisors and leaders aren’t being told anything, they just have to wait and see which of their staff get notices.”
HHS announced last week that its reduction in force, or RIF, would cut 10,000 full-time employees in addition to 10,000 employees who’ve left voluntarily, shrinking the workforce from about 82,000 full-time employees to 62,000. About 5,200 probationary workers who have been in their positions less than a year or two were also terminated last month. Most are on temporary administrative leave as their fate winds its way through federal courts.
HHS said last week cuts would include:
- 3,500 full-time employees at the US Food and Drug Administration, not affecting drug, medical device or food reviewers or inspectors
- 2,400 employees at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- 1,200 employees at the National Institutes of Health due to centralizing procurement, human resources and communications
- 300 employees at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Kennedy announced the cuts as part of a sweeping reorganization that would move or cut several parts of the federal health workforce, including the creation of a new Administration for a Healthy America, which it said would combine the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
CNN’s Ross Levitt contributed to this report.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
