The Trump administration began mass layoffs of 10,000 staffers at U.S. health agencies on Tuesday, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation, with security guards barring entry to some employees just hours after they received dismissal notices.
The cuts, which affect several high-profile agencies under the Department of Health and Human Services, including the FDA, CDC and the National Institutes of Health, are part of a broad plan by President Donald Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk to shrink the federal government and slash spending.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has described the cuts as essential to streamlining a bloated bureaucracy, according to Reuters.
However, they have included the ouster of top scientists overseeing public health, cancer research and vaccine and drug approvals, raising concerns about how the U.S. will respond to health emergencies, such as the ongoing measles outbreak and spreading bird flu.
Departures at the Food and Drug Administration, considered the world’s top drugs regulator, included Peter Stein, the director of the Office of New Drugs in its Centre for Drug Evaluation and Research division. He resigned on Tuesday when faced with being fired, according to one source familiar with the matter.
Brian King, the head of the FDA’s Centre for Tobacco Products division, was fired, according to an email sent by King to FDA staff seen by Reuters. That followed the ouster of Peter Marks, the FDA’s highly regarded top vaccine official.
Staff have also been leaving and some employees reviewing products say they are struggling to meet their deadlines.
“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 Commissioner Robert Califf wrote in a LinkedIn post.
“I believe that history will see this a huge mistake,” he wrote. “It will be interesting to hear from the new leadership how they plan to put ‘Humpty Dumpty’ back together again.”
