The scientist, one of hundreds of CDC employees terminated by the Trump administration last week, asked that her identity be concealed for fear of retribution.
The scientist worked at the CDC for the past decade, studying chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease.
“It’s truly like an episode of ‘Squid Games,’ because we don’t know what’s going to happen next,” she said.
Since last week, the Trump administration has informed approximately 600 CDC employees they have been laid off.
“The surge capacity of the CDC is going to be significantly hampered with these cuts,” the scientist told CBS News.
Washington — A scientist fired by the U.S. A. During the government shutdown, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that “the everyday American should be very concerned” about force reductions.
For fear of reprisals, the scientist, who was among hundreds of CDC workers fired by the Trump administration last week, requested that her identity be kept secret.
“It’s going to mean more deaths, more preventable deaths,” she said upon hearing about the layoffs on Wednesday on CBS News. It is certain that this administration’s effects will result in fatalities. “.
This scientist has spent the last ten years at the CDC researching chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes.
She made her statement on the same day that a federal judge in Northern California issued a verbal order temporarily stopping all government layoffs since the shutdown started. This was in reaction to a lawsuit filed by unions representing federal employees.
The speaker claimed that “they went in and fired entire programs, even statutorily mandated by law programs, they cut entirely.”. Therefore, there is no longer any staff to perform this task. “,”.
She claimed that everything she was working on had completely stopped.
She remarked, “It’s really like an episode of ‘Squid Games,’ because we’re not sure what’s going to happen next.”.
Russell Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said the Trump administration has laid off over 4,000 federal employees during the government shutdown, which is currently in its third week, and intends to do more.
On Wednesday, Vought stated, “I think we’ll probably end up being north of 10,000,” while appearing on “The Charlie Kirk Show.”. “,”.
Since last week, the Trump administration has announced the layoffs of about 600 CDC employees.
CBS News was informed on Tuesday by internal CDC officials who are not permitted to speak to the media that on Oct. 10. CDC first issued reduction-in-force notices, which are government layoffs, to roughly 1,000 employees.
However, hundreds of those notices were revoked within a day or so, lowering the agency’s overall layoff total since October. Officials said it ranged from 10 to roughly 600.
The 600 workers would be placed in limbo while the case is being handled, as the judge’s decision on Wednesday would halt their layoffs.
All employees in the CDC’s offices in Washington, D.D., were affected by the 600 layoffs, according to figures from a congressional source with knowledge of the cuts. the entire staff of the National Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Public Health Infrastructure and Workforce; the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control’s policy and communications team; and the office of the director for the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
“The Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Center, the Global Health Center, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report team, the Epidemic Intelligence Service, and scientists working on responses to measles outbreaks in the U.S. were among the CDC agencies that saw their layoffs rescinded,” the source said. S. . and the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Ebola outbreak.
According to the union that represents CDC workers, AFGE Local 2883, the agency has lost roughly 3,000 employees to layoffs and resignations so far this year, or less than 25% of its workforce. The CDC representatives who spoke with CBS News verified that figure.
Changes at the CDC have plagued the agency since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earlier this year, assumed leadership of the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy was a vaccine skeptic who controversially removed all 17 members of the advisory committee for immunization practices, which is a panel that recommends vaccines.
Additionally, Susan Monarez was dismissed from her position in August, less than a month after the Senate confirmed her as the director of the CDC, on the grounds that Kennedy had pressured her to approve his vaccine directives. She later told the Senate that Kennedy’s demands were “inconsistent with my oath of office and the ethics required of a public official.”. A number of senior CDC officials also resigned in protest after she was fired.
Last month, Kennedy denied pressuring Monarez to preapprove vaccination recommendations in his own Senate testimony. When he brought up the question of whether Monarez was “a trustworthy person,” she told him that she wasn’t. “.
The congressional source also confirmed that 41 employees of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, a U.S. agency, were among the permanent layoffs at HHS last week. A. Staff members of the Public Health Service monitor data on infectious disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and hospital cyberattacks in addition to working in biodefense.
The department’s layoffs are part of an effort to reduce a “bloated bureaucracy,” an HHS spokesperson told CBS News on Wednesday, adding that the positions were judged “non-essential by their respective divisions.”. “,”.
According to a statement from the spokesperson, “HHS continues to close wasteful and duplicative entities, including those that are at odds with the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda.”.
However, the researcher told CBS News that the chaos within the CDC will affect how the agency responds to disease outbreaks, such as the South Carolina measles outbreak, where health officials say 139 students were placed in quarantine after five new cases were reported Tuesday, bringing the total to 16 since July.
“With these cuts, the CDC’s surge capacity is going to be significantly hampered,” the scientist told CBS News. During a time when all of these threats are becoming more prevalent, it will hinder our capacity to respond to public health emergencies. “.
