CDC cuts ~1,300 in DOGE wave

Summary

On February 14, 2025, the Trump administration began terminating about 1,300 CDC employees (roughly 10% of CDC's workforce), mostly probationary staff, at HHS direction, including all first-year Epidemic Intelligence Service officers. Deeper program eliminations at CDC followed in the separate April 1, 2025 reduction in force.

What happened

The February 14 cuts targeted probationary employees - recent hires and staff recently moved into new positions - and came at the direction of HHS, according to CDC employees who spoke to NPR. All first-year officers of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, the CDC "disease detectives" dispatched to investigate outbreaks, were laid off, and as many as 1,500 NIH employees were cut the same day. On April 1, 2025, a separate HHS reduction in force cut about 2,400 more CDC jobs; union officials said it eliminated programs on smoking, lead poisoning, gun violence, asthma and occupational safety and hit labs working on HIV and hepatitis and staff working to eliminate tuberculosis. In June 2025, HHS reinstated more than 450 of the CDC employees dismissed in April.

Impact on the United States

Elimination of CDC units responsible for HIV surveillance in the US, TB elimination programs, and gun-violence injury data collection degraded the US public health monitoring infrastructure that state and local health departments rely on.

Documented effects

1. Feb 2025About 1,300 CDC employees (roughly 10% of the workforce) notified of termination Feb 14, 2025, including all first-year Epidemic Intelligence Service officers[1]
2. Apr 2025The follow-on April 1, 2025 reduction in force cut about 2,400 CDC jobs, eliminating programs on smoking, lead poisoning, gun violence, asthma and occupational safety and hitting HIV, hepatitis and TB work[3]
3. Apr 2025CDC gun-violence prevention and injury-center teams "decimated" in the April 2025 cuts, disrupting research and data collection[2]

Why this is rated significant

About 1,300 CDC staff were cut, including all first-year outbreak investigators, reducing disease-surveillance capacity; a larger April 2025 reduction followed, of which more than 450 were later reinstated.

HHS later reinstated more than 450 CDC employees cut in the follow-on April 2025 reduction in force

Corrections & updates [5]

Every change to a fact on this page after publication is logged here, newest first.

1. Sep 29, 2026CorrectedSummary / Reinstatements

   This entry conflated the February 14, 2025 probationary firings (about 1,300 CDC staff, per NPR) with the separate April 1, 2025 reduction in force. The program eliminations described (HIV and hepatitis labs, TB, gun-violence and injury work) and the reinstatement of more than 450 CDC staff in June 2025 relate to the April reduction in force of about 2,400 CDC employees, not the February wave (AP via PBS; CNN; The Trace). The cited sources do not support the "~460 reinstated" figure for the February wave, the Global HIV/TB branch eliminations, the ~2,000 HHS-wide figure, or the 328 NIOSH figure for this event. Text corrected to what the sources document; the April cuts are covered in the HHS restructuring entry.[1][3][4]

2. Sep 29, 2026ClarifiedSource

   The Trace is a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to gun-violence reporting, a specialist outlet rather than a major news organization; its tier label is corrected from 2 to 3. Its article covers the April 2025 cuts.[2]

3. Sep 29, 2026CorrectedStatus

   The status said some of the workers cut in February 2025 were reinstated; no source was found for reinstatement of the February probationary firings. The sourced reinstatement is HHS's June 2025 rehiring of more than 450 CDC employees cut in the follow-on April 2025 reduction in force (CNN), and the status now says that.[4]

   Previously

   partial (some workers reinstated)

   Now

   partial (HHS later reinstated more than 450 CDC employees cut in the follow-on April 2025 reduction in force)

4. Sep 29, 2026CorrectedSeverity rationale

   The rationale implied the February cuts were partly reversed. The reinstatements (more than 450) were of staff cut in the separate April 2025 reduction in force. Severity unchanged.[4]

   + Show previous and current text- Hide previous and current text

   Previously

   Cut ~1,300 CDC staff degrading disease surveillance, a significant public-health capacity loss with some workers later reinstated.

   Now

   About 1,300 CDC staff were cut, including all first-year outbreak investigators, reducing disease-surveillance capacity; a larger April 2025 reduction followed, of which more than 450 were later reinstated.

5. Sep 29, 2026CorrectedCost estimate

   The figures assumed 840 net lost positions by subtracting reinstatements that actually belonged to a later layoff round (April 2025). No source gives net job losses for this February wave, and the salary, state-cost and HIV-cost estimates built on it had no source. Nothing is booked.

   Previously

   net -$174M so far (gross $50M, saved $224M); 10yr -$800M; 15yr -$1.1B; broader $2B

   Now

   net $0; 10yr $0; 15yr $0; broader $0

Sources [4]