The announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services highlighted a flurry of moves, which include the shifting of departments. Also this week, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tapped fellow vaccine critic David Geier to investigate vaccine safety within the CDC.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is downsizing the department he oversees, with some 10,000 jobs on the chopping block. The plans were initially reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing official documents it had reviewed, with confirmation from HHS later Thursday morning.
“Over time, bureaucracies like HHS become wasteful and inefficient even when most of their staff are dedicated and competent civil servants,” Kennedy said in the announcement.
The cuts come hand-in-hand with reorganizations and consolidation. HHS is creating what it calls the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA), which will house already existing divisions like the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
There are a multitude of other moves. One is shifting the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), a part of HHS responsible for responding to public health emergencies, to the Centers for Disease Control. Another is the creation of a new position, the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement, who will oversee HHS’ appeals board, Medicare hearings, and the Office for Civil Rights.
While the HHS announcement made no mention of it, the WSJ‘s initial reporting suggested layoffs within over divisions. According to the publication, 3,500 staff at the FDA, 2,400 employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,200 at the National Institutes of Health and 300 from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will be let go.
The documents, however, indicated that essential services would be unaffected, per the WSJ .
According to the WSJ, the cuts are in line with Kennedy’s push to centralize several functions across the HHS that previously had been assigned throughout its different departments and branches. These include human resources, policy planning and communications. In turn, these structural changes could affect the independence of major health agencies, such as the FDA and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The new cuts add to the approximately 10,000 HHS employees that have already voluntarily stepped down from their roles since January, when President Donald Trump was sworn into office, according to the WSJ. That would mean HHS would be down to around 62,000 employees—a 25% reduction in headcount.
The announcement follows reports that Kennedy has tapped David Geier to look at vaccine safety data within the CDC, according to the Washington Post. Geier, who is not a medical doctor, has long asserted that certain components of vaccines could increase the risk of autism—claims that have been debunked by years’ worth of scientific literature.
In 2011, the Maryland State Board of Physicians punished Geier for practicing without a medical license.
Kennedy assumed leadership of HHS last month, bringing with him a long history of criticizing, without evidence, not just the safety and utility of vaccines, but also the alleged and unproven “corruption” at the Department, which he vowed to “clean up,” according to a November 2024 post on X welcoming Trump’s nomination. Kennedy wrote at the time that he will “free the agencies from the smothering cloud of corporate capture.”
