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Federal health agencies are bracing for mass layoffs as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. moves forward with a sweeping reorganization plan that will eliminate 20,000 jobs across the department. The cuts, which include 10,000 layoffs, have sent shockwaves through agencies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)and the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy, leaving thousands of employees uncertain about their futures.
FDA Employees Told to Prepare for Job Losses
On Monday, some FDA employees received emails instructing them to pack their laptops and prepare for the possibility that they wouldn’t be returning to work. According to an email obtained by the Associated Press, staff were told to check for notices confirming whether their jobs had been eliminated—an announcement that would also immediately revoke their building access.
The FDA is among the hardest-hit agencies, as Kennedy aims to streamline operations within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). He has repeatedly criticized the agency’s $1.7 trillion annual budget, claiming it has “failed to improve the health of Americans.”
Massive Cuts Across Public Health Offices
The impact of the restructuring is being felt beyond the FDA. On Friday, dozens of federal employees working to stop infectious disease outbreaks were abruptly put on leave—effectively hollowing out the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy.
Dr. Robert H. Hopkins Jr., former chair of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, warned that these cuts could have serious public health consequences.
“It puts a number of important efforts to improve the health of Americans at risk,” Hopkins said.
Several of the office’s advisory committees, including those responsible for vaccine strategy and HIV/AIDS response, have already had meetings canceled.
Meanwhile, the Office of Minority Health’s website was suddenly taken down on Monday, displaying an error message stating that the page “does not exist.”
State and Local Health Departments Also Impacted
The ripple effect of HHS’s budget cuts has extended to state and local health departments, with Kennedy’s team pulling back over $11 billion in COVID-19-related funding.
Lori Tremmel Freeman, CEO of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, said local officials are still assessing the full impact but have already identified hundreds of lost jobs across multiple states.
“Some of them [jobs] were eliminated overnight, some of them are already gone,” Freeman said.
Concerns Over Transparency and Decision-Making
Critics argue that the speed and scale of the job cuts raise concerns about whether Kennedy and his team conducted a thorough analysis before implementing these reductions.
Dr. Anand Parekh, a former HHS official under the Bush and Obama administrations, questioned how Kennedy arrived at these decisions so quickly, having been in office for just over a month.
“One would hope that as they made these cuts, they really did a deep dive,” Parekh said. “It’s not quite clear from a transparency perspective how they got from where they were to here.”
What’s Next?
As thousands of federal employees await their fate, uncertainty looms over the future of public health programs. With Kennedy’s planned consolidation of agencies—including the dismantling of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration—many fear critical health initiatives could be undermined.
For now, the only certainty is that HHS and FDA employees face one of the largest layoffs in recent history, with the full impact yet to be seen.
