The main federal health heads of the Ministry of Health and Social Services were actually ousted on Tuesday from their posts, with much replay in the Posts of the Indian Health Service, or IHS, as part of a sweeping restructuring commanded by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
High leaders of several agencies have been deleted, said several health officials, including Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo. Marrazzo replaced Dr Anthony Fauci As head of the National Institute for Infectious Allergies and Diseases.
At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, senior officials have put on leave and reassigned to the Indian health service, notably Dr. Karen Hacker, head of the agency chronic disease teams, Kayla Laserson, head of his world health center and Dr. Jonathan Mermin, CDC and HIV / SIDS Center of the CDC.
“The revolution begins today!” Kennedy poster Tuesday on X.
In an email to the NIH staff sent on Tuesday, obtained by CBS News, the director of NIH, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, said he had recognized that he was joining the agency “at a time of enormous changes”.
“Each centimeter of the federal government is under control – and the NIH is not exempt,” said Bhattacharya, expressing its gratitude to those who have been released and calling for “an entirely new approach” of the way the administrative functions will be exercised.
“While we sail on these challenges, I will do my best to direct the NIH thanks to these reforms, implement new politicians with Humanity and try to gain your confidence,” he said.
A leading official in another HHS agency has also been reassigned, said a familiar official with this decision. All the other options given to them would have involved to move, said the official said.
Another civil servant said that the senior leaders of their team had been offered to a reallowing in distant places for several states, said an official. At the Food and Drug Administration, an official had been informed that refusing the reallow would make them lose their starting allowance.
“What insult for the IHS and the Center directors. IHS sites fill critical gaps, it is not an American archipelago Goulag,” said a CDC official.
Among the other senior officials actually ousted on Tuesday include Dr. John Howard, head of the National Safety and Health Institute at work, and Dr. Brian King, the high regulator of tobacco products at the Food and Drug Administration, said current and former officials.
In a statement, a department manager said that the Indian health service had not been affected by this week’s cuts and that the agency “has long faced challenges related to endowment shortages”.
“To meet personnel needs and support the IHS in carrying out its mission, HHS invited some people to consider positions within the IHS. These invitations are voluntary, and individuals have the opportunity to accept or refuse,” said the official.
Cups and reallocations come because many teams under these leaders have been widely emptied as a whole, within the framework of the 10,000 workers that Kennedy and the working group on the efficiency of the Ministry of Effectiveness of the White House Government said they would suppress in the context of restructuring.
The new leaders of the FDA and NIH also started at work on Tuesday, HHS announcement. They were confirmed by the Senate earlier this month.
The CDC has classified as one of the agencies with the largest labor reductions in the list Posted by HHS, with 2,400 employees to fire.
In the Hacker center at the CDC, several teams have been emptied by layoffs, according to a list distributed among agency officials, including the Division of Loresic Health, the Division of Population Health and the Bureau of Tabgism and Health. As part of the MST MST and HIV / AIDS center, the elimination of tuberculosis and the study branches were cut.
This comes after several senior officials have already resigned or have been forced to go out in federal health agencies, including the senior FDA vaccines, Dr Peter Marks last week and the senior food security and nutrition responsible for the agency Earlier this year.
More resignations or cuts are expected in the coming weeks, have said officials, while agencies are struggling with chaos caused by the cuts.
Many agency leaders said they had been left in ignorance about the cuts, asking staff to let them know if they had received discount opinions on Tuesday.