CDC lags in hiring behind other health agencies after DOGE cuts, union says

Key Points:

• Over a year after cutting 30% of its workforce, the CDC is hiring at a much slower rate than other federal health agencies, with only 16.5% of former staff replaced, according to the American Federation of Government Employees union.
• The CDC has about 50 "zombie" programs—fully funded but largely inactive due to insufficient staff—impacting areas such as chronic diseases, injury prevention, and reproductive care, as many experts are on paid administrative leave or have left.
• Key programs like the Office of Smoking and Health and sickle cell data collection face severe staffing shortages, forcing reliance on contractors and putting critical public health initiatives at risk.
• Health experts warn that these workforce reductions and program disruptions threaten the ability to collect vital data and provide necessary care, especially for vulnerable populations such as sickle cell patients, who may go without treatment.
• The Department of Health and Human Services emphasizes ongoing efforts to improve care and outcomes, but public health leaders and former CDC officials criticize the cuts as morally wrong and detrimental to long-term health surveillance and patient care.