After the Trump administration’s upset turmoil, the Center for Disease Control and Preventive Workers, which has returned to work, says they’re stuck on budget, politics and expert boundaries.
Their work includes priorities of key institutions such as HIV testing and surveillance, as well as work in one of the nation’s leading STIs. Also, many projects have been cancelled or stalled as funds disappear or delayed while employees return.
“For a while, work was staring at a blank screen,” said the HIV scientist. “We had a few projects before. We’re about to resume them.”
“I don’t know what’s going on or what to do,” said the fired HIV prevention researcher.
These employees expressed deep concern about the agency’s future and its work regarding the HIV and other threats. Unprecedented downsizing can lead to loss of life and increased spending on healthcare, they say. Their uncertain employment situation is sluggishing morale. Many people are worried about the future of public health.
On August 8th, a gunman was identified by Georgia authorities as Patrick Joseph White fired fire at the CDC building in Atlanta. DeCalb County Police Officer David Rose, the first responder on the scene, was killed. News reports show that White, who was found dead, may have been motivated by his views on the vaccine.
The attack added another level of anxiety to agent workers.
“We feel threatened from within, and obviously, now from the outside,” lab scientists said on August 10. “Trauma runs very differently for us all.
HealthBeat interviewed 11 CDC workers. All but one were fired and then returned their work. Most have worked on HIV-related projects for at least a few years. All spoke about the state of anonymity, citing fears of retaliation.
They fear employment, on the condition of HIV scientists, of being “on unstable ground.”
An HIV epidemiologist said, “There’s chaos and I’m worried about losing HIV prevention based on HIV prevention, and it’s been reduced from reducing layoffs for local public health workers based on HIV prevention. “It feels like a pawn on a chessboard.”
HHS spokesman Emily Hilliard responded to the question in this statement.
“Under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, the country’s key public health functions remain unharmed and effective. The Trump administration is committed to supporting coal miners and firefighters through Niosh, protecting public health through lead prevention or supporting critical services, whether researching and tracking the most common communicable diseases. A top priority.”
The workers received positive news on July 31 when a Senate committee voted to maintain CDC funding at more than $9 billion near current levels. “It’s very encouraging, but it’s just one step in the spending process,” said the HIV researcher.
Still, under the Trump administration’s budget demands, the CDC’s program on HIV faces uncertainty. John Brooks, who retired last year as chief medical officer of CDC’s HIV prevention, expressed concern about the end of the HIV epidemic initiative. “It breathed new life into HIV prevention,” Brooks said, released during President Donald Trump’s first term.
The success of the end of the HIV epidemic initiative is at risk by management plans to reduce HIV prevention efforts, Brooks said. This includes the potential elimination of the CDC division of HIV prevention. It funds the state health department and other groups for testing and prevention, implements HIV surveillance and surveillance, researches HIV prevention and care, and supports training and education of health professionals.
“There is no way to achieve EHE goals without maintaining the national prevention infrastructure that it relies on,” Brooks said. “There are all sorts of reasons why we are actually worried about a new HIV infection rising again.”
Under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Department of Health and Human Services conducted extensive layoffs in early April at the CDC and other health agencies. These mass shooting lawsuits are being played out in federal court.
The administration’s budget blueprint, according to HealthBeat, says that CDC HIV work, many employees hire many employees and move to a healthy American administration, according to those interviewed.
Medical surveillance projects tracking outcomes, quality and gaps in HIV treatment are set to be victims under Trump’s restructuring plan, HIV preventive doctors said.
HHS officials have not communicated with Rank and Files about the reorganization, several CDC workers said.
“It was cricket,” said the HIV scientist.
The White House’s proposed CDC budget for the next fiscal year includes a cut of over 50%, plummeting from $9.2 billion in 2025 to about $4.2 billion. With an overwhelming vote, the Senate committee injected billions of dollars into the agency’s budget and refused to raise funds for the AHA.
Sen. John Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, thanked the committee for “rejecting unacceptable efforts to refund most of the CDC.”
“The budget request from the White House included a 56% reduction to the world’s outstanding epidemiological institutions,” Ossoff said. He also criticized the “systemic disruption of morale at the CDC, the dissolution of the entire institution focused on CDC’s maternal health and neonatal health and disease prevention.”
If the White House is widespread and prevention programs are eliminated, “we see that most states don’t have funds for HIV prevention,” said Emily Schreiber, senior director of policy and legislative affairs for the National Alliance of National and Territorial AIDS Directors. “This means that most states cannot provide HIV testing, referrals to care, and/or referrals to preventive services such as PREP,” or pre-exposure prevention, a drug that can prevent HIV infection.
“That means the state cannot help people access drug therapy,” she said.
“We’ll definitely see layoffs at the CDC, and we’ll probably see them in the state’s health department and community-based organizations,” she added.
According to a statement emailed to HealthBeat, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health recently fired or relocated dozens of HIV workers due to fundraising issues.
“We fear that all HIV prevention work will disappear forever,” the HIV prevention researcher said. “This administration does not want to do HIV prevention work by the federal government.”
According to the latest AIDSVU data, Georgia is leading US states with a rate of new HIV infections. CDC workers also said they are concerned that vulnerable communities of colour and LGBTQ+ communities will be deeply hurt by cuts in funding.
In Georgia and other states, medical surveillance projects will disappear information about access to care, HIV doctors said. Information on prevention and treatment will decline for disadvantaged people, including those with substance abuse problems and mental illness, transgender people and those living in poverty, he said.
“There is a lot of anger and sadness among people over the end of the project,” the doctor said. “There’s been a lot of enthusiasm.”
Patrick Sullivan, the lead scientist on the Tokemehome project and professor at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, said the effective home testing program for HIV will be closing this fall. In a notice to cancel funds for the project, the CDC said there is no longer a staff member to oversee it. The Emory-based project has provided over 900,000 free home test kits to people across the country through integration with easy-to-use websites and dating apps.
More than 100 HIV workers were brought back by more than 450 CDC staff, according to an employee interviewed by HealthBeat. Some cited media coverage, support in Congress, and advocates for reinstatement by patient groups and pharmaceutical companies. “Council members are going to hit it for HIV,” the epidemiologist said.
Some have been closely watching lawsuits filed by 20 Democrat Attorney Generals, and are about to suspend agency restructuring plans announced by Kennedy in March. They are also paying attention to lawsuits filed in California that challenge the shooting.
A few people whose jobs have recovered have either retired or moved to other jobs. “Some people don’t believe we’ll stay, so they’re leaving,” said the HIV prevention researcher.
At Atlanta’s CDC’s Sexually Transmitted Disease Lab, work is also slowing down due to staff reductions and new spending restrictions on supplies, lab scientists said.
Restored lab workers focus on high-priority areas such as syphilis and go disease, while others have been put on the back burner, the scientists said, adding, “A lot of what we were doing is going ahead of the next pathogen, and we feel our time and effort are now limited.”
“We all know what public health is,” the scientist said. “We just want to get the job done and protect the American people.”
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