A sweeping purge is underway at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), with the first wave of an expected 10,000-person reduction in force hitting early this morning.
Employees arrived to find key cards deactivated and layoff notices timestamped at 5 a.m., marking the launch of the most dramatic reorganization in HHS history. Senior officials were not exempt. Some were placed on administrative leave, while others, including prominent agency heads, were offered abrupt transfers to remote Indian reservations, with a same-day decision deadline.
Among those impacted were Jeanne Marrazzo, who recently succeeded Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Brian King, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. Their options: relocate to isolated posts under the Indian Health Service or exit.
The move follows the resignation of Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA’s chief vaccine regulator, and a growing list of top-level departures that now leave multiple agencies without seasoned leadership.
At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, entire centers have been shuttered, including the:
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National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
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National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
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National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
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Global Health Center
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National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities
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National Center for Environmental Health
The Division of Violence Prevention, long a focal point for framing gun violence as a public health issue, was also eliminated.
Former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf responded bluntly, stating on LinkedIn that “the FDA as we’ve known it is finished.”
At the same moment many were reeling from job loss, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took to social media to broadcast the swearing-in of two new agency heads: Dr. Martin A. Makary (FDA) and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya (NIH). In his message, Kennedy declared, “The revolution begins today.”
Kennedy's restructuring includes centralizing communications and key operations under his direct control, consolidating agencies into a new body: the Administration for a Healthy America. The stated goal: “do more with less” and “make America healthy again.”
Policy experts have raised concerns about the scale and speed of the purge. Robert Cook-Deegan of Arizona State University criticized the method, suggesting that seeking resignations would have preserved institutional knowledge. However, critics of HHS leadership argue that the agency, as shaped during COVID-19 and by longstanding ties to industry and academia, could not be trusted to execute Kennedy’s reform agenda.
With an entrenched bureaucracy seen as hostile to both President Trump and RFK Jr., insiders suggest that a clean slate was the only viable path for structural reform.