Mass HHS Layoffs Will Destroy Public Health Protections
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) started to layoff thousands of employees across its departments early this morning, a downsizing that will reduce its workforce by about 25%, from 82,000 to 62,000 full-time employees. Employees at all levels of institutional knowledge, leadership, and responsibility awoke to the news that they had already been let go.
Public Citizen Health Research Group Director Dr. Robert Steinbrook issued the following statement:
“With cruelty to individuals and a sledgehammer, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr continues the evisceration of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other HHS agencies and his consolidation of control over the department and its agencies.
“Kennedy’s actions are a colossal blunder that if unchecked may destroy the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies as we have known them. There are widespread consequences for medical research, drug and medical device safety, and the prevention of disease. Senseless is an understatement.”