Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Hundreds Laid Off At CDC; 750 HHS Workers Vent Anger In Letter To RFK Jr.
The Washington Post: Hundreds Of CDC Employees Receive Permanent Layoff Notices
Hundreds of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees have received permanent termination notices, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter, marking the latest blow in the Trump administration’s sweeping purge of the agencies that oversee government health programs. Between 500 and 600 employees at the agency were terminated as of Monday, said one CDC employee, who spoke anonymously for fear of retaliation. A federal health official confirmed that these notices were sent, but declined to provide a number. (Sun and Moon, 8/21)
ABC News: 750 HHS Employees Send Signed Letter To RFK Jr. Asking Him To Stop Spreading Misinformation
More than 750 employees across the Department of Health and Human Services sent a signed letter to members of Congress and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday morning, calling on the secretary to stop spreading misinformation. The letter states the deadly shooting that occurred at the Atlanta headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Aug. 8 was "not random" and was driven by "politicized rhetoric." (Kekatos, 8/20)
Read the full letter —
The Hill: CDC Funding Changes Inject ‘Chaos’ Into Local Health Programs
The Trump administration has delayed or blocked millions of dollars in federal grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), leaving state and local health departments in the dark, uncertain when or even if they will get money that’s already been appropriated by Congress for key public health initiatives. With little communication from the White House, CDC staff are trying to expedite getting grants out the door, and public health officials are scrambling to spend the money they have before it expires Sept. 30. (Weixel, 8/20)
More about federal cuts —
MedPage Today: Senate Labor-HHS Funding Bill A Rebuke To Trump's Budget Proposal, Experts Say
One of the big items on Congress's plate when it comes back in September will be passing appropriations bills to keep federal funds flowing, including money for health agencies and healthcare. And while the Senate has made a start on appropriating health funds, the House has yet to act. (Frieden, 8/20)
ProPublica: Gutted: How Deeply Trump Has Cut Federal Health Agencies
When the Trump administration announced massive cuts to federal health agencies earlier this year, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he was getting rid of excess administrators who were larding the government with bureaucratic bloat. But a groundbreaking data analysis by ProPublica shows the administration has cut deeper than it has acknowledged. Though Kennedy said he would add scientists to the workforce, agencies have lost thousands of them, along with colleagues who those scientists depended on to dispatch checks, fix computers and order lab supplies, enabling them to do their jobs. (Roberts, Waldman and Rebala, 8/21)
ProPublica: RFK Jr. Cut Grants For Autism Research While Vowing To Find A Cause
Erin McCanlies was listening to the radio one morning in April when she heard Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promising to find the cause of autism by September. The secretary of Health and Human Services said he believed an environmental toxin was responsible for the dramatic increase in the condition and vowed to gather “the most credible scientists from all over the world” to solve the mystery. Nothing like that has ever been done before, he told an interviewer. (Lerner, 8/20)
In related news about vaccines —
CNN: This Man Wants You To Know The Truth About Vaccines
Dr. Jake Scott is on the front line of his second pandemic in five years and he is not getting much sleep. Scott works full-time as an infectious disease physician at Stanford Health Care’s Tri-Valley hospital in Pleasanton, California. When he is done taking care of his patients and his two grade-school aged kids, he often stays up past midnight writing — furiously penning op-eds, collecting studies, leading evidence reviews and posting meaty threads on social media, most of them correcting the record on vaccines. (Goodman, 8/20)
