In the United States, the drastic cuts of staff no longer end. And health agencies are not spared. By decision of Donald Trump, around 1,300 employees of the Disease Prevention and Combat Center (CDC), the body responsible for responding to infectious diseases and public health emergencies like COVVID, were dismissed on Friday, February 14, said American chain CBS. Or around 10 % of the workforce. These massive layoffs arise while Elon Musk leads with the president’s blessing a large offensive to reduce public spending.
According to a source from the National Radio Public (NPR) From the United States, no less than 1,500 employees of the National Institute of Health (NIH) were also dismissed on Friday. “The CDC budget was $ 9.7 billion During the financial year 2025. The NIH, the largest public funder for biomedical research, employs more than 18,000 workers and finances nearly $ 48 billion in scientific research outside the agency, “details American radio.
In the two institutions, the layoffs would mainly concern “probation employees” – “a large category which includes recent hires and long -standing staff who have recently been transferred to a new position,” said the NPR.
These deletions “will have an impact on national security”
Among the dismissals within CDCs, almost half of 140 researchers nicknamed “detectives of diseases”, who worked for the epidemiological intelligence service, were dismissed. This essential program was “one of the most prestigious CDC programs,” AFP Amesh Adalja told AFP, specialist in infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University, and CDC employees.
These scientists are responsible for investigating epidemics and played a leading role in previous international health crises. “Without these agents, we would not have eliminated the smallpox of the globe,” insisted the doctor, welcoming their field work and adding that “any attempt to end this program will have a direct impact on the national and health security of the UNITED STATES”.
Even more savings to come?
“We are potentially on the verge of a new pandemic and we are going to see people who probably have more expertise than anyone else in the country,” warned CDC epidemiologist with AFP, in reference with avian flu. The H5N1 virus circulates strongly in poultry and cattle farms in the United States. He has contaminated nearly 70 people since the beginning of 2024, and killed a dead.
Are we heading for a reform of the country’s health agencies? This is suggested on Thursday, duo Donald Trump – Robert Kennedy Jr. “The United States spends more health money than any other country on earth. But we are more in More sick every year, “thundered the republican president, ensuring that there was” no better person “to change things that his new Minister of Health, yet clearly antivaccin …