Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ‘is not working’ after Trump administration orders mass firings

Dozens of employees were fired from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) late Friday, as the Trump administration made good on its promise to begin mass layoffs in response to a prolonged government shutdown.

The layoffs targeted leaders in the departments of Respiratory Disease, Chronic Disease, Injury Prevention and Global Health, New York times I mentioned. Nearly 70 Epidemic Intelligence Service officers, also known as “disease investigators,” all staff and editors at CDC’s Mortality and Mortality Weekly Publication (MMWR), and the agency’s office in Washington, have been notified of the termination of their employment, according to the report.

It comes as the agency is still reeling from months of uncertainty following a change in leadership and priorities under new Health and Human Services (HHS) chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Read more: EXCLUSIVE: Inside the CDC exodus and RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine crusade

Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, said Friday’s layoffs would be a devastating blow to the agency, which has already been devastated by previous cuts under Kennedy.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will lose its ability to detect and respond to outbreaks,” she said. “It will no longer be able to track disease, in America and around the world. This includes infectious threats such as influenza, foodborne illness, and Ebola, as well as chronic illness and injury.”

Rasmussen added that losing the MMWR would remove CDC’s ability to communicate with the public.

“Together, this means that the CDC is not working. It cannot carry out any of its mission,” she says. “America doesn’t have a national public health agency anymore.”

Other doctors, including Michelle Au, a Georgia state representative and anesthesiologist, He was mentioned on social media That the United States is “approaching respiratory season — when viruses like influenza, COVID, and respiratory syncytial virus surge — and flying blind.”

The CDC did not respond to a request for comment from TIME.

It comes as the nation’s largest public health agency has dealt blow after blow, from the tragic shooting at its headquarters in Atlanta to Kennedy’s firing of former CDC director Susan Munarez.

Read more: The CDC firing is a dark sign for science and America

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has asked federal agencies to plan for reductions in force (RIFs) in the event of a government shutdown, due to a dispute over health care and subsidies related to the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The gap between the two parties is primarily due to Democratic demand to extend Affordable Care Act benefits for low- and moderate-income Americans, which are set to expire at the end of the year.

Read more: Republicans say Democrats want to provide health care to illegal immigrants. Here are the facts

The White House and Republicans sought to blame Democratic leaders for the shutdown, and President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday that the firings would target those with “Democratic leanings.”

“These are very much the people the Democrats want, and a lot of them are going to be fired,” Trump said. “It would be a lot.”

The mass firings come just two months after the CDC suffered an exodus of top officials from the agency, who said they were asked to resign in August after Kennedy sidelined officials and ignored scientific research and protocols since taking his turn to lead the department.