**Summary of Recent Federal Worker Firings Amid Government Shutdown**
**Introduction**
On Friday, the Trump administration made good on its threat to fire federal employees during the ongoing government shutdown, a move that has sent shockwaves through several key federal agencies tasked with protecting public health and safety. According to multiple sources and official filings, thousands of workers received layoff notices, with particularly severe consequences for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the agency at the forefront of the nation’s response to infectious disease outbreaks. This summary explores the scope of these layoffs, the agencies and programs affected, and the wider implications for public health and government operations during the shutdown.
**Targeted Agencies and Scale of Layoffs**
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) confirmed in a Friday court filing that over 4,000 federal employees across seven major agencies received “reduction in force” (RIF) notices. The largest numbers of layoffs were reported at the Departments of Treasury, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education. Other federal bodies impacted include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which issued warnings of possible future layoffs to around 20 to 30 of its employees. These layoffs were the result of the administration’s decision to move from furloughs—temporary, unpaid leave—to outright terminations as the government shutdown persisted without a resolution.
**CDC Hit Hard: The Impact on Disease Outbreak Response**
Among the most heavily affected was the CDC, the nation’s premier public health agency. Sources told ABC News that around 130 employees were let go just from the director’s office at the National Center for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD). The NCIRD is a critical division within the CDC, responsible for managing the response to a wide range of infectious threats including measles, influenza, coronaviruses, and other respiratory and vaccine-preventable diseases. Many of the staff terminated were senior leaders and managers of divisions that oversee disease surveillance, outbreak response, policy development, and public communication.
The layoffs extended to additional CDC departments, such as the Global Health Center, the Alzheimer’s Disease Program, the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology, the Injury Center, the Epidemic Intelligence Service, the Center for Forecasting Outbreaks and Analytics, the Public Health Infrastructure Center, and the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Both scientists and communications professionals lost their jobs, hampering not only the agency’s ability to respond to emergent health threats, but also its capacity to inform the public and coordinate with state and local partners.
**Public Health at Risk Amid Ongoing Outbreaks**
The timing of these layoffs comes at a particularly precarious moment for public health in the United States. The country is in the midst of several significant disease outbreaks:
- **Measles**: The number of measles cases has reached the highest levels since 1992, driven by localized outbreaks in communities with low vaccination rates. This resurgence has required intensive public health interventions, including vaccination campaigns and rapid epidemiological investigations—work that falls squarely within the purview of the now-depleted NCIRD staff. - **Influenza**: The previous year’s flu season was one of the most severe in recent memory, with a record number of pediatric deaths. Maintaining robust flu surveillance and public communication is vital to prevent a repeat of such devastation. - **Whooping Cough**: Cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, are near record highs for the second consecutive year, underscoring the ongoing need for active disease monitoring and vaccination outreach.
With key teams at the CDC and other agencies dismantled, the federal government’s ability to track, contain, and respond to these and other outbreaks is significantly compromised. Public health experts warn that the loss of expertise and institutional knowledge among terminated staff could have long-term repercussions, making it harder to mount effective responses not just to current outbreaks, but also to future, unforeseen threats.
**Administration’s Justification and Response**
President Trump and OMB Director Russ Vought have defended the firings as necessary given the ongoing funding lapse. The president has repeatedly stated that he will not negotiate with Democrats on reopening the government until they agree to his demands on healthcare policy, a stance that has prolonged the shutdown and left essential government functions in limbo.
In an effort to mitigate some of the public backlash, President Trump announced via social media on Saturday that he had directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to use “all