Thousands of federal health workers received early morning layoff notices Tuesday as the Trump administration embarked on a sweeping overhaul of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), eliminating entire research units and reassigning senior officials to remote locations.
The job cuts, which began arriving at 5 a.m. according to affected employees, are part of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s plan to reduce HHS staffing from 82,000 to 62,000 positions. Tuesday’s action resulted in 10,000 layoffs, adding to 10,000 positions already eliminated through previous cuts and voluntary departures.
The restructuring impacts virtually every division of HHS, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). According to department documents, specific job reductions include approximately 3,500 positions at FDA, 2,400 at CDC, 1,200 at NIH, and 300 at CMS.
Multiple units were completely eliminated, including teams focused on reproductive health, gun injury prevention, and pandemic vaccine research. Senior officials based in Washington D.C. and Atlanta received reassignment notices to Indian Health Service facilities in Alaska, Oklahoma, and New Mexico – a tactic employees described as designed to force resignations.
As workers processed the news, Kennedy moved quickly to install new leadership. In a video posted to social media Tuesday, Kennedy was shown swearing in Dr. Martin A. Makary as the new FDA head and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to lead NIH.
“Welcome aboard,” Kennedy said in the video. “The revolution begins today.”
The restructuring creates a new division called the Administration for a Healthy America, consolidating various functions directly under Kennedy’s control. The reorganization reduces HHS from 28 divisions to 15, centralizing external communications, procurement, IT, and human resources functions that were previously managed independently by agencies like NIH, FDA, and CDC.
Jessica C. Henry, 40, reported being terminated along with her entire team of communications and health education specialists at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, an NIH branch with an annual budget of approximately $500 million. Her team’s work included educational programs about childhood dental health, birth defects like cleft lips and palate, water fluoridation, and oral health maintenance for aging adults.
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) were particularly hard hit. ASPE’s staff was reduced from around 150 to fewer than 50 employees, while AHRQ saw its workforce shrink from over 300 to 189 staff members.
Congressional oversight emerged quickly as Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana and chairman of the Senate health committee, summoned Kennedy to testify about the reorganization at a hearing scheduled for April 10. Lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns about the scope of changes and potential impacts on critical health services.
The departures at FDA included the director of the Office of New Drugs and the head of the Center for Tobacco Products division. At CDC, staff working on the federal response to measles outbreaks were among those terminated. The changes follow the recent forced resignation of Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA’s top vaccine regulator, who criticized Kennedy for “misinformation and lies” regarding vaccines.
At NIH, the layoffs appear targeted at officials associated with former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci. Several of Fauci’s longtime colleagues were reassigned, and leadership was removed from key infectious disease offices.
Public displays of support for departing colleagues emerged Tuesday morning when hundreds gathered in the lobby of a National Cancer Institute building in Maryland, many carrying handmade signs. The impromptu assembly was dispersed to allow terminated employees to exit without ceremony. Current and former employees were observed crying and comforting one another.
The administration has defended the cuts as necessary to streamline operations and improve efficiency. Kennedy stated last week that the department was “going to do more with less” and described the existing structure as an inefficient “sprawling bureaucracy.”
Public health experts have expressed alarm about potential consequences for America’s health infrastructure. Former officials and experts described the situation as a “bloodletting” with an “immeasurable” loss of expertise. Concerns include potential delays in drug approvals, diminished ability to respond to disease outbreaks, and disruptions to critical research programs.
The layoffs coincide with a separate Trump administration executive order that would end collective bargaining rights for federal employees at numerous agencies, including health agencies, further reducing worker protections.
For the remaining 62,000 HHS employees, the restructuring represents the most significant organizational change in the department’s history, centralizing authority and dramatically reducing the independence of scientific agencies that have historically maintained operational autonomy.
I’ll write a factual paragraph focusing on potential impacts of these health agency layoffs on Americans:
The widespread elimination of federal health positions could directly impact the daily lives of millions of Americans in numerous ways. With fewer scientists monitoring disease outbreaks at the CDC, public health threats like measles or emerging infections may spread further before detection.
FDA staffing reductions may slow the review and approval of new medications and medical devices, potentially delaying patient access to innovative treatments.
The dismantling of vaccine research programs could hamper America’s ability to respond quickly to future pandemics.
Cuts to dental and oral health education teams might reduce access to preventative information, particularly for vulnerable populations.
Healthcare policy researchers who tracked system performance and identified improvements have been severely reduced, potentially affecting the quality and efficiency of medical care delivery.
Public health experts note that many of these impacts may not be immediately visible but could gradually emerge as institutional knowledge and expertise drain from the federal health infrastructure that has historically protected Americans from numerous health threats.
