Michael Beach, former deputy director of the food disease division, born in water and environmental at the CDC, attends a weekly demonstration in front of the main campus of the agency in Atlanta.
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The staff of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta is in shock, after having lost thousands of their colleagues since January, due to layoffs, strength reductions and buyouts.
This is part of a Trump administration plan to “considerably reduce the size of the federal government” with their declared objective of minimizing waste and abuse, according to a February executive decree. Trump celebrated generalized layoffs of civil servants on April 29, during a rally marking his first hundred days in power. “We stop their sauce train, put an end to their power trip and say thousands of bureaucrats of the deep, incompetent and useless corrupt state, you are dismissed. Getting hell from here,” he said.
Public health officers feel demoralized and say that radical cuts, apparently made little consideration on the functioning of the CDC, have reduced the country’s ability to follow and respond to health threats. This makes Americans more vulnerable to a multitude of dangers of lead poisoning at asthma, certain cancers, toxic chemicals And deadly infectious diseases, among others, among the current and former employees of the CDC, told NPR.
The administration has restricted communications with national and global partners and has set strict limits Buy supplies And Hire people. Programs and divisions, including those dedicated to injury prevention,, sexual,, reproductive And oral health And work danger The reduction has been decimated or eliminated by recent budget and endowment cuts.
“It is a fire with five alarms,” explains Dr. Anne Schuchat, former acting director of the CDC who Retired in 2021 After working at the agency for 33 years. “The types of changes that occur will take decades to recover, and many people will die because of these interruptions.”
HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard defended the changes: “During the ministry’s transformation, the CDC remains determined to maintain the continuity of operations and carry out its main mission to protect the American public from health threats.” Throughout this process, leadership continues to support labor with transparency and active commitment. “
DRE Anne Schuhat, former acting director of the CDC, gives a conference at a conference celebrating the work of detectives from the agency’s disease in April 2025.
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Newly trained heads of health are faced with “dismantling” of public health infrastructure
In this context, the CDC organized an annual conference at the end of April to celebrate the work of their epidemic intelligence service, a highly selective training program for “detectives of the disease” which respond to epidemics of the United States and the world.
The conference almost did not occur. The program seemed to be on the blocking in February, according to staff members who saw a list of expected cuts, but who were spared.
“We have obtained the late approval to have the conference, given the change of administration,” said Eric Pevzner, head of the CDC epidemic intelligence service. “Something that would normally have been planned over six months (CDC staff) did in about six weeks”
Detectives from the agency disease train for two years before being part of public health leaders across the country. More than 4,000 former students received this high -level training and numerous returns year after year.
The conference presentations are a rite of passage for officers finishing the scholarship and the four -day event calendar has been thrilled. “It is great to see that science continues, work continues, the dedication of people continues. But what is looming is not very promising,” said Dr. Kenneth Castro, former assistant surgeon and alum eis, promotion of 1983.
Many in public health feel anxious about the deep budget and staff cuts that have resulted in the “dismantling of public health infrastructure”, Castro says: “What will be their future? It will be uncertain. What are the people we have just finished training? It is uncertain. So, this is the challenge that we are all facing.”
As a person who came to this conference several times, Castro can see what is missing. “Many people who would have been here have been rif’ed,” he said, which means that pushed in recent CDCs strength reductions. He says that those who remain have the impression of being watched – that is why the satirical review, a highlight of the conference, was canceled this year: “(the officers) feel too vulnerable to make fun of any figure of authority. This is for me part of the reign of the terror we are experiencing,” said Castro.
He says it often looks like a family meeting – but not this time.
The cuts reduce scientific staff “to the bone”
A few kilometers in the street, by the main doors of the CDC campus, former employees organized a weekly demonstration against the agency’s cuts.
“He was so deeply undermined in people’s lives, the agency, the mission,” said Dr. Daniel Pollock, former EIS, a promotion from 1984. He retired as a branch manager of the CDC health care promotion division in 2021 and protested every week since they started in February.
Pollock is one of the 60 people who line the sidewalk outside the CDC on Tuesday afternoon, beating drums and obtaining klows from workers who left at the end of the day.
“I know many friends and colleagues who still work there, many friends and colleagues who have been dismissed and many friends who have retired in recent months,” said Dr. Chris Van Beneden, an epidemiologist who has retired in 2020 from CDC, and an EIS Alum, the 1995 class. In the foot. “”
On the other side of the street, Michael Beach stands in a sun hat and hikes, with a sign that says “Save the CDC”. As a former deputy director of the Division of Food Diseases, of water and environmental origin, he wore a buttoned shirt and pants to work behind these doors for years. “It was the most rewarding work you could imagine, and you made a difference every day,” he said.
Beach, who retired in 2021, is alarmed by what he hears from his agency colleagues. “To cut scientific staff to the bone, close the laboratories, to cut all data on maternal health, on violence, environmental health, on the prevention of HIV and STD and tuberculosis – this kind of thing will have a huge impact on the health of this country,” he said.
A counter-mailver supports Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
While demonstrations against CDC cuts have been held for months, Mike Arnold, a vaccine defender, has been here for years.
A recent Friday, he stands alone in the same street corner by the entrance to the CDC, surrounded by more than a dozen panels. Many of them show his support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new secretary to health, whom Arnold calls “a gift from God”. Others show his opposition to vaccines, saying that they are causing autism – A view that has been demystified.
Arnold says he feels mixed about layoffs. “I don’t like to see the administrative people licensed, security people, maintenance people – I’m sorry for them,” he said, “scientists and doctors – no, I don’t feel a little sorry for them.”
Due to CDC programs, such as those of lead poisoning, asthma, detection of diseases and those who promote delivery and safe vaccines, public health experts warn that many people will become sick or die.