The Trump administration rushed to undo mass layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday after it was revealed that many workers were fired in error.
In what had been described as a “massacre,” hundreds of scientists at the CDC were fired on Friday, including 70 Epidemic Intelligence Service Officers, other high-ranking scientists, and the entire Washington office. In total, more than 4,000 government positions across multiple agencies were eliminated in Friday’s layoffs.
Now, as both The New York Times and The Washington Post report, the government is attempting to rescind some of the layoff notices as they were apparently sent in error.
Federal health officials confirmed to both publications that workers who were being brought back included employees leading the agency’s measles and Ebola response teams, the agency’s global health leadership and some disease detectives. It is unclear exactly how many of the layoffs were being reversed.
A senior administration official told The New York Times that the employees “were sent incorrect notifications, which was fixed last night and this morning with a technical correction.” They added, “Any correction has already been remedied.”
HHS Communications Director Andrew Nixon confirmed to the Daily Beast, “The employees who received incorrect notifications were never separated from the agency and have all been notified that they are not subject to the reduction in force.”
Affected employees, including the incident commander of the agency’s measles response team Dr. Athalia Christie, received emails on Saturday that the previous day’s notices had been revoked. “You will not be affected by the upcoming RIF,” the emails read.
The layoffs struck late on Friday, with Project 2025 architect and Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought ominously announcing on X, “The RIFs have begun.”
The RIFs have begun.
— Russ Vought (@russvought) October 10, 2025
Employees received emails on Friday that read, “I regret to inform you that you are being affected by a reduction in force (RIF) action. After you receive this notice, you will be placed on administrative leave and no longer have building access beginning Friday, October 10.”
Trump had previously threatened to conduct layoffs during the government shutdown, with Vought leading the charge. Soon after the shutdown began, the president posted a bizarre AI-generated music video depicting Vought as the Grim Reaper, having met with the OMB director earlier in the day to discuss potential cuts.
The CDC has been the site of significant carnage during Trump’s second term under the watchful eye of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including mass layoffs conducted in June that were also reversed, the firing of Trump-appointed CDC Director Susan Monarez and the subsequent resignation of several senior CDC officials in protest.
The agency was also rocked by a shooting at its Atlanta campus in August that left one police officer dead. The shooter, who died at the scene, was believed to have targeted the campus because of his hatred of the COVID-19 vaccine.
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