CDC Directs Some Fired Workers to Return to Work, Apologizes for Disruption

The email sent to staff members directs them to ’read this email immediately.’

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., on April 23, 2020. (Tami Chappell/AFP via Getty Images

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) called back some recently terminated employees on March 5 and apologized for “any disruption” caused by recent layoffs at the federal health agency.

A message to some CDC employees was sent with the subject line, “Read this e-mail immediately.”

It added that “after further review and consideration,” a Feb. 15 termination notice has been rescinded and the employee was cleared to return to work on March 5.

“You should return to duty under your previous work schedule,” the message reads. “We apologize for any disruption that this may have caused.”

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) confirmed the reinstatement of the employees, although he suggested that more workers with the federal health agency need to get their jobs back. The CDC headquarters is located in Atlanta.

“Today’s announcement is a welcome relief, but until all fired CDC employees are restored, our country’s public health and national security will continue to be at risk,” Warnock said in a March 5 statement.

Warnock also said, “I’m glad my defense of the CDC was heard by the leadership of the Trump Administration, which is why I’m calling on the Trump Administration to reinstate all CDC employees.”

Based on the CDC email and Warnock’s statement, it’s not clear how many CDC employees returned to work as a result of the action.

The Epoch Times contacted the CDC for comment but received no response by the morning of March 6.

The CDC is the latest federal agency that is trying to reinstate some employees who were laid off as part of the Trump administration’s cost-cutting efforts, spearheaded by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Similar reversals have been made in recent days among employees responsible for medical device oversight, food safety, bird flu response, nuclear weapons, and national parks.

The move follows the CDC’s confirmation this week that it sent emergency response officials to deal with an outbreak of measles in western Texas that state officials say has sickened 159 people, and led to the death of a child.

In a post on social media platform X, the CDC wrote that it is working with the Texas Department of Health as part of a “rapid response” effort to “tackle urgent public health issues like disease outbreaks.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the CDC’s response is having an impact in communities where measles cases have been confirmed in recent days. Officials there are getting “very good results” with various treatments, including cod liver oil, vitamin A, steroids, and the antibiotic azithromycin, he told Fox News on March 5.

“What we’re trying to do is really to restore faith in government and to make sure that we are there to help them with their needs and not particularly to dictate what they ought to be doing,” Kennedy told the news outlet.

Since the Trump administration took over in January, other shakeups have occurred in the CDC. Early on, the agency took down a number of web pages that were out of compliance with a Trump order that barred the use of gender ideology terminology, before a judge in February ordered those pages to be restored.

Among other directives, the Trump administration also ordered the CDC to stop collaborating with the World Health Organization.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.