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The Trump administration laid off more than 1,000 employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Friday, only to reverse the decision for many just a day later.
According to reports, many people who were notified that they’d been laid off included people from the infectious disease outbreaks, science and health data analysis and employee safety.
On Saturday, the Trump administration claimed that multiple layoffs were accidental and set to be taken back. The New York Times reports that the federal government’s top two leaders on the measles response team were let go and expected to be brought back.
Politico notes that those being rehired “…are staff who work on the critical Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the director’s office of the Global Health Center and staff working on the measles response and Ebola outbreak response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
Also many people who worked in the Laboratory Leadership Service are being rehired, and many of the Epidemic Intelligence Service officers — who investigate disease outbreaks — also had their layoff notices rescinded.
The tensions between the CDC and the Department of Health and Human services stems from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who is grossly underqualified for the position. Kennedy not only makes bogus unsubstantiated claims like Tylenol causes autism, he’s also a vaccine skeptic, who fired the CDC director.
The massive firings, Friday, are currently being challenged in court.
“The terminations, which come amid a government shutdown and after the Trump administration repeated threats of mass firings, are being challenged in court by the American Federation of Government Employees and the AFL-CIO,” Politico reports.
The Trump administration laid off more than 4,100 employees across the federal government.
HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told Politico that the firings were “a direct consequence of the Democrat-led government shutdown,” adding that the “layoffs were necessary because the department became too ‘bloated’ under the Biden administration.”
Politico adds that the “Trump administration’s reduction in force is still expected to cut deep within the CDC, and the layoffs are the latest iteration in a series of tumultuous months for agency staff.”
See social media’s reaction to the switch up below.
