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Losses RFK Jr.s bloodbath at HHS: Blowback grows as losses become clearer "Americans will be sicker and face increased health care costs." Beth Mole Apr 2, 2025 5:26 pm | 63 A sign marks the entrance to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) headquarters building on October 7, 2024, in Washington, DC. Credit: Getty | J. David Ake A sign marks the entrance to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) headquarters building on October 7, 2024, in Washington, DC. Credit: Getty | J. David Ake Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreLast week, Health Secretary and anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the Trump administration would hack off nearly a quarter of employees at the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees critical agencies including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).The downsizing includes pushing out about 10,000 full-time employees through early retirements, deferred resignations, and other efforts. Another 10,000 will be laid off in a brutal restructuring, bringing the total HHS workforce from 82,000 to 62,000."This will be a painful period," Kennedy said in a video announcement last week. Early yesterday morning, the pain began.It beginsAt the FDAwhich will lose 3,500 employees, about 19 percent of staffsome employees learned they were being laid off from security guards after their badges no longer worked when they showed up to their offices, according to Stat. At CMSwhich will lose 300 employees, about 4 percentlaid-off employees were instructed to file any discrimination complaints they may have with Anita Pinder, identified as the director of CMSs Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights. However, Pinder died last year, The Washington Post noted.At the NIHwhich is set to lose 1,200 employees, about 6 percentnew director Jay Bhattacharya sent and email to staff saying he would implement new policies "humanely," while calling the layoffs a "significant reduction." Five NIH institute directors and at least two other senior leaders have been ousted, in addition to hundreds of lower-level employees. Bhattacharya wrote that the remaining staff will have to find new ways to carry out "key NIH administrative functions, including communications, legislative affairs, procurement, and human resources."At CDCwhich will lose 2,400 employees, about 18 percentthe cuts slashed employees working in chronic disease prevention, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, tuberculosis, global health, environmental health, occupational safety and health, maternal and child health, birth defects, violence prevention, health equity, communications, and science policy.Some leaders and workers at the CDC and NIH were reportedly reassigned or offered transfers to work at the Indian Health Services (IHS), an HHS division that provides medical and health services to Native American tribes. The transfers, which could require employees to move to a remote branch, are seen as another way to force workers out.Among those reportedly offered an IHS reassignment are Jonathan Mermin, the director of the CDC's National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, and Jeanne Marrazzo, the director of the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who replaced former director Anthony Fauci."In a matter of just a couple days, we are losing our nations ability to prevent HIV," Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, said in a statement. "The expertise of the staff, along with their decades of leadership, has now been destroyed and cannot be replaced. We will feel the impacts of these decisions for years to come and it will certainly, sadly, translate into an increase in new HIV infections and higher medical costs."Swift backlashOverall, the effects of the sweeping cuts are expected to take time to fully realize. But backlash and concern are mounting quickly.At the FDA, the chief tobacco regulator and dozens of other employees at the agency's tobacco center were among those ousted Tuesday. That includes two entire offices responsible for drafting new tobacco regulations and setting policy, according to the Associated Press."If you make it virtually impossible to create and draft policy, then you are eviscerating the role of the center," Mitch Zeller, the FDAs former tobacco chief, told the AP. "From a public health perspective, it makes absolutely no sense."Over the weekend, dismay grew over the dramatic ouster of the FDA's top vaccine regulator, Peter Marks, who was reportedly given the choice of resigning or being fired. In a searing resignation letter Friday, Marks wrote that "it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary [Kennedy], but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies." Kennedy is a longtime anti-vaccine advocate who is now using his position as the top US health official to spread misinformation and doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines.The effects of Marks' departure are already coming to light, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that the agency has now missed its deadline to decide on Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine. According to the Journal's sources, the agency was set to give full approval to Novavaxs shot by the April 1 deadline, but senior FDA leaders are now "sitting on the decision," saying that Novavax needs to provide more data and that the FDA is unlikely to grant approval soon.The cuts and changes at the FDA have made companies nervous. Alex Schriver, senior vice president at the powerful pharmaceutical industry group PhRMA, told Axios that "The rapid and substantial changes at [the Food and Drug Administration] this week raise questions about the agency's ability to fulfill its mission to bring new innovative medicines to patients."Threat to AmericaMeanwhile, NPR reports that at least 40 percent of the staff of the Administration for Community Living, or ACL, were laid off Tuesday. The ACL runs and funds various programs for older and disabled people, including Meals on Wheels."The programs that ACL implements improve the lives of literally tens of millions of older adults, people with disabilities and their families and caregivers," Alison Barkoff, former ACL director under Biden, told NPR. "There's no way to have these RIFs [reductions in force] and not impact the programs and the people who rely on them."The ACL is set to be eliminated, with its responsibilities split across three other HHS divisions, Kennedy announced last week.David Skorton, president and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges, noted that the work of HHS "touches the lives of every American." The loss of "critical leaders" is "likely to slow scientific advancement and negatively impact the health and well-being of the American people."In an op-ed Tuesday, Tom Frieden, former CDC director under Obama, called the cuts to the CDC a threat to "Americas health, safety, and economy.""Despite claims of efficiency, these cuts target proven programs that prevent disease and save livesand as a result, Americans will be sicker and face increased health care costs," he wrote.Tracking the effects of the cuts and the health of Americans will also get more difficult under the Trump administration and Kennedy. The majority of the teams handling communications, media relations, and Freedom of Information Act requests at the NIH, CDC, and FDA have also been cut, according to Stat.Beth MoleSenior Health ReporterBeth MoleSenior Health Reporter Beth is Ars Technicas Senior Health Reporter. Beth has a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attended the Science Communication program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She specializes in covering infectious diseases, public health, and microbes. 63 Comments
