Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has asserted that there was always an intention to bring back approximately 20% of the workforce that was laid off from the Department of Health and Human Services.
On March 27, around 10,000 employees, including scientists, doctors, and inspectors affiliated with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), were informed about the termination of their roles.
This major organizational change followed President Donald Trump’s Executive Order titled ‘Implementing the President’s Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative’. It aimed to streamline department functions by consolidating units into 15 new divisions, according to HHS.
“We aren’t just reducing bureaucratic sprawl. We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic,” said United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., at the time.
“This Department will do more – a lot more – at a lower cost to the taxpayer.”
Nevertheless, Kennedy Jr. has recently indicated that some positions and programs, which were mistakenly eliminated, are set to be reinstated, according to ABC News.
“We’re streamlining the agencies. We’re going to make it work for public health, make it work for the American people,” he told the news outlet.
“In the course of that, there were a number of instances where studies that should have not have been cut were cut, and we’ve reinstated them. Personnel that should not have been cut were cut—we’re reinstating them, and that was always the plan.”
As reported by the BBC, about 20% of the federal workforce reductions were made in error, including a full team focused on lead poisoning and prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The overhaul is being directed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
DOGE has been charged by the Trump Administration with the task of reducing the size of the federal workforce and decreasing the US debt, currently around $36.22 trillion.
“Part of the DOGE, we talked about this from the beginning, is we’re going to do 80 percent cuts, but 20 percent of those are going to have to be reinstated because we’ll make mistakes,” Kennedy Jr. told reporters in Virginia.
Erik Svendsen, who had managed the CDC Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice until recently, commented on the impact of the layoffs.
“It’s been very difficult for people to understand and emotionally process,” he told Politico. “With all of us gone, there’s no one who can do this work.”
It remains uncertain which specific HHS staff members will be reinstated or what functions the health department will continue to uphold.
These extensive cuts have also impacted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and sectors focusing on infertility, respiratory protection for coal miners, and services for the disabled and elderly.
“The FDA as we’ve known it is finished with most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed,” former FDA commissioner Dr. Robert Califf told Mass Device.
He described it as a ‘dark day for public health’.