HHS reinstates more than 450 CDC employees fired in April reorganization, including childhood lead poisoning team

By Meg Tirrell, Brenda Goodman, CNN

(CNN) — The US Department of Health and Human Services is reinstating more than 450 employees at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who were fired as part of a massive reorganization in April, including workers focused on HIV and childhood lead exposure.

More than 200 employees had their firings rescinded at the CDC’s National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD and Tuberculosis Prevention, along with 158 at the National Center for Environmental Health, an HHS spokesperson confirmed. Another 71 were brought back in the Office of the Director and two dozen more at the Global Health Center.

The reinstatements represent almost 20% of the 2,400 CDC employees who HHS said it was dismissing in a mass Reduction in Force, or RIF, in April. The cuts also affected employees across the US Food and Drug Administration, the US National Institutes of Health and the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but an HHS spokesperson said Wednesday’s reinstatements applied only to employees at the CDC.

“Under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, the nation’s critical public health functions remain intact and effective,” HHS Director of Communications Andrew Nixon said in a statement. “The Trump Administration is committed to protecting essential services – whether it’s supporting coal miners and firefighters through NIOSH, safeguarding public health through lead prevention, or researching and tracking the most prevalent communicable diseases.

“HHS is streamlining operations without compromising mission-critical work,” he continued. “Enhancing the health and well-being of all Americans remains our top priority.”

Fox News earlier reported the reinstatements.

The cuts had wiped out the CDC’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention and Surveillance Branch as it was in the midst of helping the city of Milwaukee address a lead exposure crisis in its public schools. The firings meant the CDC had to deny a request from the city for specialists to help. US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was repeatedly pressed by reporters and lawmakers over the situation, and he said he didn’t intend to eliminate the branch.

On Wednesday, the entire lead team was rehired, along with its parent group, the Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, according to its newly reinstated director, Dr. Erik Svendsen.

“You previously received a notice regarding the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) upcoming reduction in force (RIF),” read an email to reinstated employees, obtained by CNN, who had been put on administrative leave since the notice of their dismissal. “That notice is hereby revoked. You will not be affected by the upcoming RIF.”

Public health advocates called it a good step but warned that federal health agencies are still in chaos.

“When decisions are made haphazardly, without thoughtful planning, they end up harming our children for no reason,” said Dr. Brian Castrucci, an epidemiologist who is president and chief executive officer of the de Beaumont Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for the public health workforce.

“While I’m relieved to see the program being restored, I am deeply concerned for the children and families who have already been impacted,” he said.

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