‘It’s a bloodbath’: Massive wave of job cuts underway at US health agencies
Nick Valencia Meg Tirrell Tami Luhby Sean Lyngaas
By Nick Valencia, Brenda Goodman, Meg Tirrell, Tami Luhby and Sean Lyngaas, CNN
Updated 1:38 PM EDT, Tue April 1, 2025
A massive wave of job cuts got underway 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.
After weeks of worry from agency staffers, job cuts — known as a reduction in force or RIF — were sweeping across offices at multiple agencies, hitting leadership, longtime staffers, scientists, administrators and communications staff.
“It’s a bloodbath,” one US Food and Drug Administration employee said.
“These cuts to agency experts and programs leave our country less safe, less prepared and without the necessary talent and resources to respond to health threats,” Dr. Mandy Cohen, the director of the CDC during the Biden administration, said Tuesday.
In a post on LinkedIn, former US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said, “The FDA as we’ve known it is finished, with most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed.”
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https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/01/health/staff-cuts-at-federal-health-agencies-have-begun/index.html
