600 CDC workers get permanent layoff notice 

Hundreds of CDC workers are receiving permanent layoff notices, according to an Aug. 21 report from The Washington Post, which is based on interviews with sources familiar with the matter. 

Officials with the American Federation of Government Employees — the union representing more than 2,000 agency workers — told the Post and the Associated Press that around 600 employees are being cut, with the terminations effective as of Aug. 18.

The layoffs affect individuals working in violence prevention, equal employment opportunity and the Freedom of Information office, union officials told the news outlets. An HHS official confirmed termination notices had been sent but declined to provide a specific figure. 

The latest round of layoffs come less than two weeks after a gunman fired nearly 200 rounds of bullets at facilities on the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta. A police officer was shot and killed during the Aug. 8 incident. On Aug. 20, more than 750 current and former HHS employees penned an open letter, writing that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s rhetoric around vaccines has fueled mistrust of federal health workers and contributed to hostility toward the agency.

The layoffs are the latest upheaval for the federal health workforce. In March, HHS said it would eliminate 10,000 jobs across the department, including 2,400 at the CDC. The agency has since walked back some of those terminations, reinstating more than 700 employees as of June. 

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