Outrage over 20,000 health worker layoffs with Trump, RFK Jr., and Musk under fire

The Trump administration has revealed plans to lay off 20,000 staff at US health agencies and is facing backlash from public health and disease prevention experts while scientists sue the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research funding cuts.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., plans to restructure its agencies, which include the FDA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), NIH, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Senior leaders have also been pushed out of the FDA. 

“Americans depend on the FDA every time they sit down for a meal or pick up a prescription — but that’s no matter,” stresses Senator Patty Murray. “[President Donald] Trump and [Elon] Musk are hollowing out the agency and putting their health at risk.”

“Let’s be crystal clear — there’s nothing strategic about firing thousands of people who inspect our food and ensure our prescriptions and babies’ formula are safe. While they work overtime to pass more tax breaks for themselves, Trump, Musk, and Kennedy are insisting on senseless cuts to all but destroy the FDA.”

The HHS says it will cut 82,000 full-time employees to 62,000, 28 divisions to 15, and ten regional offices to five while centralizing certain functions. 

Food inspection under threat?

Dubbed HHS’ transformation to Make America Healthy Again (MAHA), the department says the FDA will dismiss 3,500 full-time employees to streamline operations and centralize administrative functions. HHS notes that drugs, medical devices, food reviewers, or inspectors will not be affected.

Food safety inspections will plummet — just like before the infant formula crisis, warns Sarah Sorscher, CSP’s director of Regulatory Affairs.However, Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) director of Regulatory Affairs, Sarah Sorscher, says: “The obvious truth is that most FDA food safety inspections are not carried out by the FDA but are conducted under state grants that have already been targeted for cuts.”

“In March, many of the state programs that carry out 90% of our produce and 75% of our manufactured foods inspections quietly received word that they would face steep cuts in federal funding.”

She believes state governments are unlikely to make up for the federal cuts, which means “food safety inspections will plummet in the coming year.” She recalls that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA stopped many inspections, such as an infant formula facility in Sturgis, Michigan, which led to the deadly multistate outbreak of Cronobacter and a nationwide formula shortage.

“It defies logic to get rid of the people who help strengthen our nation’s health workforce, support our nation’s health centers, and work to ensure children grow up healthy,” Murray asserts. “These reckless firings and thoughtless reorganizations will set back efforts to improve maternal care, help Americans in rural areas get basic health services, and so much more.”

Healthy America reforms 

The HHS has revealed that the CDC will reduce 2,400 employees and move the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response under the division, adding 1,000 workers.

The reckless cuts reverse progress in fighting deadly diseases and leave Americans to fend for themselves, argues Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro.The HHS plans to cut 1,200 workers at NIH and 300 at CMS but notes it will not impact Medicare and Medicaid services. 

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro highlights that NIH funding led to the development of over 99% of drugs between 2010 and 2019, increasing health and longevity. 

Murray says that leaders in child health and human development, allergy and diseases, minority health, and more are being pushed out. He also warns: “Undercutting CMS is an attack on Americans’ health care — full stop.”

Additionally, HHS will form a new Administration for a Healthy America (AHA), consolidating several agencies to coordinate chronic care and disease prevention programs better and connect low-income US citizens to health resources. AHA includes Primary Care, Maternal and Child Health, Mental Health, Environmental Health, HIV/AIDS, and Workforce, with support from the US Surgeon General and policy team.

In other cuts, Trump and Musk reportedly fired 135 CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) members — almost half of the staff, flags the House Committee on Appropriations.

“EIS officers are at the front line of public health emergencies. They are on the ground when outbreaks occur so we can contain diseases before they reach the US. We will not know the outcome of decimating this program until it’s too late — until Americans are dying from a disease we could have contained before it spread. This is nothing short of terrifying,” DeLauro comments.

Murray reacts, stating: “Two billionaires are making good on their vow to take a wrecking ball to the Department of HHS and put Americans’ health and well-being at serious risk — and Republicans are letting them.”

“These firings make a lot of sense if you believe measles spreading like wildfire is good, or think we should be slashing cancer research. While Republicans work to pass more tax breaks for billionaires, Trump, Musk, and Kennedy are ripping essential health services away from the American people and decimating our country’s ability to prevent outbreaks and keep families safe. There’s no two ways about it: this is the type of carelessness that gets people killed.”

R&D targeted

With job cuts, funding for research is also under threat. For instance, the Illinois government says the Trump administration slashed promised funding to protect people from infectious disease outbreaks.

Trump, Musk, and Kennedy are gutting US health agencies, putting millions at risk, says Senator Murray.New York Attorney General Letitia James and 22 other states are filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration for unlawfully slashing billions of dollars in vital state health funding.

Researchers, the American Public Health Association, and others have also filed a lawsuit challenging the abrupt cancellation of research grants by NIH, especially those referencing LGBTQ people or racial minorities. “Important discoveries and treatments will be delayed, putting lives at risk. Health issues in one community affect everyone, so this concerns us all,” comments plaintiff Dr. Brittany Charlton, associate professor at Harvard Chan School of Public Health.

Plaintiff Dr. Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, warns: “To tell physicians, clinicians, and researchers what they must not study is to tell them what questions not to ask, what answers not to find, and which patients not to help. This will have devastating consequences for those relying on government progress on HIV, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, or other public health challenges, if not reversed by the courts.”

The New York City Corporation counsel, Muriel Goode-Trufant, calls the move an “illegal clawback,” warning of the collapse of public health programs.

“Musk — an unchecked billionaire — Trump and Kennedy are continuing their assault on Americans’ health,” says DeLauro. “Amid a severe flu season, and as a potentially deadly avian flu outbreak threatens to raise the stakes for public health even further, firing thousands of highly skilled employees — including doctors — will make Americans sicker, weaker, and more vulnerable to avoidable death.”

“These cuts reverse progress in the fight against deadly diseases like cancer and diseases that had been previously eradicated in America, like polio. This does not lower the costs for families, as Trump promised. Instead, it tells them they are on their own.”

She says the trio is destroying agencies that protect US public health, saying NIH is the most important biomedical research institution globally. It brings hope to families suffering from health conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, mental health disorders, maternal mortality, and infectious diseases. 

“Musk and Trump are destroying the hope for life-saving cures.”