Hundreds of CDC employees who were told they didn't have a job this past Friday are back in what a former official told Scripps News Group is the latest sign of disorganization at the agency.
"I am concerned about not just the future of CDC, but public health in the United States and the health of Americans if the CDC is not functional," former CDC Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry told Scripps News Group Monday.
The CDC terminated more than 1,300 workers Friday but rehired around 700 over the weekend, according to the union that represents federal workers.
Current staffers were told by the Department of Health the mass firing and rehiring was due to a technical coding error, according to Houry, who said she's been in touch with CDC employees over the weekend.
The standing terminations follow cuts carried out earlier this year by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
"With the staff cuts we've had, with the budget cuts that are proposed, as well as the lack of stable leadership at CDC, the nation is in trouble," Houry said.
According to Houry, initial terminations included CDC employees working on the U.S. measles response and Ebola containment in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as staff at six global CDC offices.
"I was very thrown off when that was laid off because that allows CDC to really respond to emergencies around the world," she told Scripps News Group.
RELATED STORY | Former Surgeon General explains why he published a warning about RFK Jr.
While groups like those that oversee the U.S. measles response returned, the staff reductions will impact the country's preparedness for future health crises.
"With the continued cuts to staff, there are fewer boots on the ground that can deploy. And when you look at how critical things that are now hampered, like policy and communications offices across the centers, have been cut this past weekend, that is not going to allow scientific information to get to communities," she said.
Houry says that the instability at the CDC is also hurting morale at the agency.
"Morale is at an all-time low and continuing to plummet," she said. "Just really seeing how the secretary continues to say things about the CDC that aren't true and aren't supportive of the staff, like 'don't trust the experts.' That does not help morale."
Health Secretary Kennedy told Scripps News previously what he is "trying to do with the agency is return it to gold standard science."
The Health Department and CDC did not return a request for comment regarding the potential for more terminations. Meanwhile, the White House has signaled that more federal workers could be laid off if the government shutdown continues.
Houry, who was at the agency during its transition from the Biden to Trump administration, said she knew there was "an appetite for budget cuts."
"Across the agency they had proposed where there could be eliminations that wouldn't harm the public and to where they could reduce redundancy as much as possible. Those weren't taken into really consideration," Houry said.
"Instead of taking a scalpel to make some fine cuts, they're really just taking a machete," she added. "Certainly, you can always look for places to reduce, but not when you have to undo it and not when it can harm people."
