The CDC’s lead poisoning prevention team are among the personnel who were wrongly terminated.
Some of the 10,000 layoffs this week at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) were mistakes and are being rolled back, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on April 3.
The mass terminations, which took place across HHS and its divisions, were focused on streamlining administrative sections and consolidating work on communications, information technology, and human resources, the health secretary told reporters in Virginia.
“In the course of that, there were a number of instances where studies that should have not been cut were cut—we’re reinstating them. Personnel that should not have been cut were cut—we’re reinstating them. And that was always the plan,” Kennedy said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Lead Poisoning Prevention and Surveillance Branch was wrongly cut, and is being reinstated, according to the health secretary. The program is focused on preventing children from being exposed to lead by providing money and other support to state and local public health departments.
The CDC declined to comment.
HHS declined to give more examples of cuts that are being rolled back.
“HHS is planning to continue the important work of the lead poisoning prevention and surveillance branch that works to eliminate childhood lead poisoning under the Administration for a Healthy America,” an HHS spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.
The recent cuts also included Freedom of Information Act staffers, including the CDC’s entire Freedom of Information Act office.
Some earlier CDC firings were also undone.
HHS on April 1 sent termination notices to about 10,000 workers, including about 2,400 CDC employees, after officials identified what they said were redundant jobs and divisions.
The expansion of HHS over the years has led to more than 100 communications offices, more than 40 information technology offices, dozens of procurement offices, and nine human resource offices, Kennedy said in a recent video.
A review uncovered a lack of communication and cooperation that even included officials charging money for data instead of sharing it, he added, showing a need for change.
“We’re streamlining the agencies. We’re going to make it work for public health, make it work for the American people,” Kennedy told reporters on Thursday.
