CDC reverses hundreds of layoff notices amid US government shutdown

CDC walks back hundreds of firings as US shutdown persists

In the second week of the U.S. government shutdown, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) informed approximately 1,300 employees that they would be laid off, only to reverse hundreds of those notices within hours, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Reuters reported that the Trump administration is proceeding with mass job cuts at the CDC, affecting entire offices and hundreds of workers. A crowd-sourced list compiled by CDC employees, reviewed by Reuters, indicated that several divisions, including the Washington office, were among those slated for closure. Two sources within the CDC and two others from separate health agencies confirmed the accuracy of that list.

While about 400 CDC staff reportedly received termination notices, the total number of job losses was estimated at around 1,300. By Saturday evening, however, 90 employees from departments totaling around 700 workers confirmed their layoff notices had been rescinded.

Those whose dismissals were reversed included personnel working on the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, staff at the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and early-career epidemiologists involved in outbreak investigations.

The White House and CDC did not immediately respond to media requests for comment. On Friday, President Donald Trump blamed Democrats for the widespread layoffs across the federal government, citing the shutdown as justification and reaffirming his threats of broader job reductions.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees the CDC, said the cuts targeted employees classified as “non-essential.”

“HHS continues to close wasteful and duplicative entities, including those that are at odds with the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda,” HHS Communications Director Andrew Nixon said in a statement.

Meanwhile, CDC units responsible for workplace safety, human resources, the CDC library, and the Washington office have not reported any indication of reinstatements.

This is not the first instance of the CDC reversing course on layoffs. Earlier in the year, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. oversaw the dismissal of 2,400 employees, later rehiring 942 of them.

Kennedy, who has been a vocal critic of the CDC, calling it “the most corrupt government agency,” has long promoted vaccine misinformation. Since taking office, he has disbanded the CDC’s independent vaccine advisory panel and removed its director a month into her tenure, as part of broader efforts to reshape national vaccine policy.

Public health experts have warned that Kennedy’s stance and public messaging have contributed to declining vaccination rates and left a growing number of children vulnerable to preventable diseases such as measles.

(with agency inputs)