Former CDC staff warn of “a five alarm fire”

Staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta are reeling, after losing thousands of their colleagues since January, due to firings, reductions in force and buyouts.

It’s part of a plan by the Trump Administration to “dramatically reduce the size of the Federal Government” with their stated goal of minimizing waste and abuse, according to a February executive order. Trump celebrated the widespread firings of government workers on April 29, at a rally marking his first hundred days in office. “We are stopping their gravy train, ending their power trip, and telling thousands of corrupt, incompetent and unnecessary deep state bureaucrats, you’re fired. Get the hell out of here,” he said.

Public health workers feel demoralized, and say the sweeping cuts, made with seemingly little consideration for how the CDC operates, have decreased the nation’s ability to track and respond to health threats. It leaves Americans more vulnerable to a host of dangers from lead poisoning to asthma, some cancers, toxic chemicals and deadly infectious diseases among other things, current and former CDC employees told NPR.

The administration has restricted communications with domestic and global partners, and put strict limits on buying supplies and hiring people. Programs and divisions including those dedicated to injury prevention, sexual, reproductive and oral health and workplace hazard reduction have been decimated or eliminated by recent budget and staffing cuts.

“It’s a five alarm fire,” says Dr. Anne Schuchat, a former acting director at CDC who retired in 2021 after working at the agency for 33 years. “The kinds of changes that are happening are going to take decades to recover from, and many people will die because of these interruptions.”

HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard defended the changes: “During the Department’s transformation, the CDC remains committed to maintaining continuity of operations and fulfilling its core mission to protect the American public from health threats. The agency’s restructuring is a necessary, strategic effort to align with evolving public health needs — reflecting responsibility and forward planning, not instability,” she wrote to NPR. “Throughout this process, leadership continues to support the workforce with transparency and active engagement.”

Newly trained health leaders face a “dismantling” of the public health infrastructure 

Against this backdrop, the CDC held an annual conference at the end of April celebrating the work of their Epidemic Intelligence Service, a highly selective training program for “disease detectives” who respond to outbreaks throughout the U.S. and the world.

The conference almost didn’t happen. The program appeared to be on the chopping block in February, according to staffers who saw a list of expected cuts, but was spared.

“We got late approval to have the conference, given the change in administration,” says Eric Pevzner, chief of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service. “Something that would normally have been planned over six months, [the CDC staff] did in about six weeks”

The agency’s disease detectives train for two years before going on to serve as leaders in public health around the country. More than 4,000 alumni have received this high-level training, and many return year after year.

The conference presentations are a rite of passage for officers completing the fellowship, and the four-day event schedule was packed. “It’s great to see that the science continues, the work continues, the dedication of the people continues. But what’s looming ahead is not very promising,” says Dr. Kenneth Castro, former assistant surgeon general and EIS alum, class of 1983.

Many in public health feel anxious about the deep cuts to budget and staffing that have resulted in the “dismantling of the public health infrastructure,” Castro says: “What’s their future going to be? It’s uncertain. What are the people who we just finished training going to be doing? It’s uncertain. So that is the challenge that we’re all facing.”

As someone who’s come to this conference many times, Castro can see what’s missing. “Many people who would have been here have been RIF’ed,” he says, meaning pushed out in recent CDC reductions in force. He says those who remain feel like they’re being watched — which is why the satirical revue, a conference highlight, was canceled this year: “[The officers] feel too vulnerable to be making fun of any figure of authority. That to me is part of the reign of terror that we’re living under,” Castro says.

He says it often feels like a family reunion – but not this time.

Cuts reduce scientific staff “to the bone”

A few miles up the street, by the main gates of the CDC campus, former employees have staged a weekly protest against the cuts to the agency.

“It’s been so deeply undermining of people’s lives, of the agency, of the mission,” says Dr. Daniel Pollock, EIS alum, class of 1984. He retired as a branch chief in CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion in 2021, and protested every week since they started in February.

Pollock is one of about 60 people lining the sidewalk outside the CDC on a late Tuesday afternoon holding signs, beating drums and getting honks from workers leaving at the end of the day.

“I know a lot of friends and colleagues who still work there, a lot of friends and colleagues who have been fired and a lot of friends and colleagues who have retired during these last few months,” says Dr. Chris Van Beneden, an epidemiologist who retired in 2020 from CDC, and an EIS alum, class of 1995. “They’re decimating CDC. They’re decimating public health in the states. That’s not efficient — that’s shooting yourself in the foot.”

Across the street, Michael Beach stands in a sun hat and hiking boots, with a sign that says “Save the CDC.” As former deputy director of the Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases, he wore a button-down shirt and slacks to work behind these gates for years. “It was the most gratifying work that you can imagine, and you made a difference every single day,” he says.

Beach, who retired in 2021, is alarmed by what he hears from his colleagues at the agency. “To cut the scientific staff to the bone, to close laboratories, to cut off all of the data coming in about maternal health, about violence, about environmental health, about prevention of HIV and STDs and TB — those sorts of things are going to have a huge impact on the health of this country,” he says.

A counter protester supports Robert F. Kennedy, Jr

While the protests against the cuts to CDC have been going on for months, Mike Arnold, an advocate against vaccines, has been out here for years.

On a recent Friday, he stands by himself on the same street corner by the CDC entrance, surrounded by over a dozen signs. Many of them show his support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new health secretary, who Arnold calls “a gift from God.” Others show his opposition to vaccines, claiming they cause autism — a view that has been debunked.

Arnold says he feels mixed about the layoffs. “I don’t like to see administrative people laid off, security people, maintenance people — I feel sorry for them,” he says, “The scientists and doctors — no, I don’t feel a bit sorry for them.”

Because of cuts to CDC programs, such as those for lead poisoning, asthma, disease detection and those promoting safe childbirth and vaccines, public health experts warn that many people will get sick or die.